More Americans are going into debt to make ends meet, that can cause mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Cheddar News speaks with Licensed Psychotherapist Joyce Marter on how to deal with the stress of money worries  

Closing Bell

How to Deal with the Mental Burden of Debt

Well with persistent inflation and high interest rates. More Americans are now going into debt just to get by according to experience more than 340 million Americans are carrying some form of debt that is now ballooned to over $16.5 trillion. These numbers are Jaw dropping. Well carrying debt can have a tremendous impact on your mental health and certainly cause anxiety, depression, even physical issues. So joining me now is joy smarter licensed psychotherapist and author of the financial mindset fix. Joyce is great to have you on the show. It's such an important topic and a timely one as well. And so what are your coping strategies for people who do find themselves in debt? Thank you Kristen you're right. This is such an important topic. So many people are dealing with it. My top tips are to take a look at yourself talk. So according to cognitive behavioral therapy, our thoughts precede our emotions and behaviors. So you need to stop catastrophic or fear based thinking. There's a technique called thought stopping. So when you have a negative thought about money, literally say to yourself, stop and shift your attention to gratitude. Take a walk, have a snack, read a book, change your mindset. Also wrap yourself with self compassion and self forgiveness. You've made the best financial decisions that you could with the information that you had at the time. So don't beat yourself up and it's really important to separate your worth from your finances. Your debt is how you are. It's temporary, it's not who you are, who you are is innately worthy. And it's helpful to practice compartmentalization which gets better when you practice mindfulness. It's the ability to kind of scan those worries and that tension that you're feeling in the body and set it aside so that you feel clear and free to function and take action to improve your financial situation. So Joyce, we're showing this grateful screen here. This kind of gives us a read according to nerdwallet some data and a Harris poll from october of last year as to how americans feel about their dead and most people are anxious or overwhelmed. Certainly the vast majority of people are there specific exercises or workouts tools here. I know you referenced some but perhaps a plan that people can follow to try to get better. Yes. Absolutely. Having proper diet and nutrition and exercise is going to help you with your overall well being and it is going to help you better cope with stress. So that's extremely important. I also recommend the daily mindfulness practice which include breathing exercises. Square breathing is something that can cause immediate calm. It's inhaling to the counter for holding for the counter for exhaling for the counter for and holding for the counter for and the more slowly and the more often that you practice that the better you're gonna feel meditation is also super helpful. I love apps like calm and headspace and there's a free app called insight timer. Meditation is like a reboot for the mind body and spirit and also cognitive behavioral exercises to help you shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance and CBT Thought Record apps to help you change that negative thinking to positive. All right, Joyce. Great advice. Thank you so much joy, smarter licensed psychotherapist and author, but financial mindset fix some really good tips there.