As Canadians increasingly struggle with the cost of living, a new survey confirms that financial stress has a very real impact on people’s mental well-being.
Telus Health then rated the mental health of each response group, based on an index of 1-100, where 0-49 is distressed, 50-79 is strained and 80-100 is optimal. Similar results were found when Telus Health judged the mental health of people who reported feeling overwhelmed by debt at some point in their life, versus those who hadn’t.
This comes as no surprise to University of British Columbia psychology professor Jiaying Zhao. She studies the connection between scarcity – whether that’s of money, food or time – and mental well-being, and says there are very clear connections between poverty or financial stress and depression and anxiety.That burden eats up bandwidth and makes it more difficult for people to perform in school or at work, Zhao says. Short-term, it’s exhausting and stressful.