Suicide rates have soared in the wake of the global recession, and the victims are by no means restricted to the poor: New York attorney William Parente killed his wife and two daughters before committing suicide in a Maryland hotel room after losing $27 billion dollars for his clients, and the finance chief of the troubled U.S. mortgage giant Freddie Mac, David Kellermann, was found dead on April 22nd after apparently committing suicide. Socially, financial stress seems an omnipresent factor in modern American society. It may be capable of amelioration and correction, particularly in individual cases, however, as a societal indeed a global concern, individual issues may never be fully resolved until the social aspects are addressed..

What Forms Does Financial Stress Take?

Financial stress presents itself in two, often overlapping, guises.

Objective Financial Stress

The first is objective financial stress: in such cases, individuals experience health and mental problems stemming directly from the economic facts of their immediate environment. If you have no money for food, or for nutritious foods, if you cannot afford health care or medical treatment or supplements, if you are born into an impoverished country or into an impoverished ghetto in a wealthier country, then you live in an intrinsically stress-producing environment that at best limits your social, health and intellectual options, and at worst exposes you to conditions seriously destructive to body, mind and spirit.

Objective financial stress is not limited to the poor; the impact is experienced by those ranging from the recent graduates who find themselves with hefty school loans and a dearth of jobs, to the highly-skilled professionals who are ever-growing statistics in the seemingly unending wave of layoffs, to the real estate developers who suddenly face a nonexistent market for their services to the single mother who is forced into early retirement from a six-figure position. These are but a few examples of the wide range of individuals who have never faced poverty, but who are nonetheless facing situations that inevitably lead to severe, sometimes crippling stress. There is a sense in which all stress-related problems are subjective, since stress is something that, while it may be described and measured from outside to some degree, can only be experienced subjectively. But that subjective experience is on occasion so intimately tied up with objective conditions, that one cannot be treated without addressing the other. Thus, massive economic recessions or depressions will generate immense numbers of stress-related problems in their wake.

Aspects of objective financial stress that must be touched upon as well are societal and political. Are some societies and some forms of economic organization less stress-inducing than others? The answer is not simple. Currently the nations of the world that rank highest in various happiness indexes are the Scandinavian nations, whose socialist policies have been explicitly designed to, in part, remove stressors concerning health care, provide assistance to the elderly, a panoply of social services, absorbing the costs of higher education, and in general, reducing financial inequities. That said, socialism per se is hardly a universal panacea; the societies carved bloodily out of their respective populations by Stalin or Pol Pot can hardly be said to be lacking in stress, albeit the underpinnings of such societies were laid by dictators.

From another angle, the comparative explosion of wealth in the free enterprise-based United States has been accompanied by a seeming epidemic of mass obesity, with a host of negative consequences both physical and psychological; stressful fears of hunger and starvation may have vanished, but what has been wrought ranges from diabetes and cardiovascular disease to a disdain for the elderly and an obsession with youth and beauty.

But, whichever the extreme, it would be a significant error in judgment to imagine that there can be no improvement in individual cases until society as a whole improves or is modified. That is far from the case. Public crises have private consequences, but private consequences are privy to a host of potential solutions. If an individual is experiencing financial stress, he or she may devise a new budget, seek relief in exercise or meditation, create a new business (i.e., witness the explosion of entrepreneurs in the wake of the recent recession), and/or simply seek lateral career moves. Clearly, though the former actions will ease the degree of stress, only securing a source of income will truly alleviate the symptoms. With the advent of social media, networking for new positions or marketing a new business has never been more prized, or more easily attainable.

Subjective Financial Stress

Curiously, subjective financial stress is a problem that is in many ways easier to address than the social causes of such stress. While financially-related fear, anxiety, avoidance, negative self-talk, depression, cognitive dysfunction, and so on, are unpleasant to experience, fear and anxiety and similar problems are comparatively well-studied and well-known, and there exists a host of effective practices and responses that can minimize negative subjective responses and maximize improved attitudes and more effective activity. In many cases it may be easier to address the fear of bankruptcy than to address bankruptcy itself. There are a wealth of approaches to modifying thoughts and attitudes. Applying them to thoughts and attitudes concerning finances poses neither unique nor insurmountable obstacles.

Financial stress in the subjective sense can be broken down into several areas, including:

Financial stress in the sense of response to a perceived threat. Fear of being laid off, fear of being fired, fear of investment losses, fear of home foreclosure, fear of dependence upon others in the wake of a fiscal crisis – wherever a bleak financial future can be imagined, bleak psychological and physiological responses can be anticipated. Moreover, threat as a rule tends to stimulate the fight-or-flight response in humans, which can manifest in a wide range of anxiety disorders, as well as the negative effects of persistent chronic anxiety on relationships, both intimate and friendships, whatever the specific initial cause.

Financial stress in the sense of performance anxiety. Here individuals may face growing pressure to produce more in return for less, or may respond to a competitive situation by extreme or unhealthy overwork, or may be dogged by fears of inadequate competence. As a result, health problems may appear, ranging from high blood pressure stemming from workload overload to a compromised immune system stemming from skipped meals, far less than optimal nutrition, eliminating exercise or a chronic lack of sleep.

Financial stress in the sense of workplace stress. A large number of individuals rate the workplace as the most stressful element in their lives, and the potential sources of stress are many: lack of job security, abusive supervision, unpleasant co-workers, poor or insufficient pay, competition within for preferred positions and competition without for market share, difficult or impossible performance targets.

Financial stress in the sense of social hierarchy. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is the classic term, but the phenomenon it points to may stretch deep into our evolutionary if not genetic heritage. In most societies, the wealthy are celebrated and receive attention and wield influence, whereas the financially challenged and the poor do not. The wealthy, therefore, rank higher in the social hierarchy, and financial stress afflicts both those that are wealthy, since they may slip from their elevated rank or may end up working longer and harder to maintain their position, and those that consider themselves poor or simply living paycheck to paycheck, never able to move forward or save for the future.

Financial stress in the sense of perceived deprivation or inadequate options. Again, in most societies, wealth opens doors – to education, to networking with the elite and powerful, to improved health care and access to better nutritional options. Individuals born or thrust into the lower end of the spectrum are hampered at best, crippled at worst, and stress may result from the additional effort needed simply to stay above water, if not from a subjective sense of resentment and injustice. Yet individuals at the higher end may experience stress as well, stemming from a sense of guilt, unearned privilege, maintaining a certain ‘image’, or even social isolation from the remainder of society.

Financial stress in the sense of threatened self-image. The father who sees himself as “the breadwinner”, the business owner who thinks of himself as “the boss”, the society matron who thinks of herself as a member of “the elite” are all subject to a unique form of stress when their position (indeed the foundation of their sense of self-worth) is threatened by a financial downturn. Self-image is crucial to healthy psychological functioning, and financial reverses can threaten to reverse social roles and devastate private self-assessments. Ultimately such reversals may lead to better self-appraisals and a new existential honesty and realism in terms of what one is as opposed to the role one plays. But the way down can be crushing, and stressful in the extreme.

Financial stress in the sense of socialization. An individual who has been fired or laid off does not simply lose a paycheck; often sadly the repercussions are felt more widely as one may lose an entire social network. Friends at work are no longer everyday company; marriages or relationships may collapse; socializing with friends may prove impossible as finances will not allow continued participation in customary activities; indeed, even relocation may be a necessity in the search for a new position. Often the change in social circumstances can be equally or more stressful than the loss of the income source.

Financial stress in the sense of anger. One common reaction to financial stress is the inbred and understandable reaction to any threatened injury: fury and hatred. Stress often follows from threat or injury, and when threatened or injured, a common behavioral response is to hit back, and to devalue whatever is being hit. The collapse of the German economy in the Twenties was easily turned into a search for scapegoats in the 1930s, with devastating effects in the form of two world wars. The tendency to resolve stress by blaming others is common, but unhelpful; the problems remain, but the accuser is disempowered, subject to the actions and perception of others. Blaming oneself is stressful as well; however, it can prove to be a “good stress” if viewed as an empowering assumption: There is a problem, how do I fix it? This type of stress leads to innovation and growth.

Financial stress in the sense of relationship problems. Money touches everything, and even the smallest and most personal collectives like families or couples make many conflicting financial decisions every day. When those decisions spark disagreement, the relationships are subject to grueling stress, if not collapse, and are an immense source of unhappiness. Al too often, rather than working together to address the situation, a career serves as a wedge whether because the individual exorcises his stress by emotional abuse, withdrawal or other punishing behaviors, or if a position is lost, the devalued sense of self is extended to those closest, such that deep guilt and anguished inadequacy virtually paint entire families with shades of gray, harming the psyches of those helpless to stop the self-berating behaviors.

Can Financial Stress Be Overcome?

Yes. Financial stress consists of one, sometimes two, issues: the issue of the subjective perspective we hold as a financial challenge, and the actual challenge itself. Both are resolvable, though not necessarily easily.

If you are an individual who holds three jobs and enjoys fewer than four hours of sleep a night, something will quite literally have to give-sleep is essential for regeneration on a cognitive and physiological level. If you are a policeman or a soldier who lives through grueling life-threatening situations day after day to the point where the world is viewed with no feeling, then it may be time to change careers If you cannot afford to pay your mortgage, consider downsizing if at all possible-simplifying your lifestyle will yield great long-term benefits. If you are a doctor who earns a million dollars a year but loses half or more in poor investments, it is time to admit that you cannot do it all-turn your finances over to a professional. If you are staying in a poor relationship because you fear the impact to your way of life, ask yourself if the sacrifice is worth the misery. The solutions to objective financial problems like these are not necessarily easy or enjoyable, but they are clear and generally workable. Of course they involve stress because they involve change, and change is not something that is embraced by most individuals. But once change is chosen and embarked upon, stress as a rule lessens. The person who leaves a maddening job is no longer maddened by it.

What about the person who chooses the status quo? This individual must first accept that the underlying stress will never be entirely absent from such a situation, but even here the extent of the stress may be alleviated to an extent. Techniques ranging from meditation to observing and altering negative self-talk, from deep-breathing exercises to obtaining adequate sleep, better nutrition, incorporating exercise, use of self-help programs to decrease symptoms of anxiety and stress, and enhance self-worth, to developing compassion through reflection and prayer or a sense of spirituality – all are effective to some degree. At the very least, make what is unendurable endurable, and transform the unhealthy stress of victimization into the “good stress” of challenge and empowerment.

Viner, R. (1999) Putting Stress in Life: Hans Selye and the Making of Stress Theory Social Studies of Science, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jun., 1999), pp. 391-410

Seligman, M.E.P. (1975). Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.

“Report on the American Workforce”. United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/opub/rtaw/rtawhome.htm.

NIOSH (1999). Stress at Work. U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication Number 99-101.

Sauter SL, Murphy LR, Hurrell JJ, Jr. (1990). Prevention of work-related psychological disorders. American Psychologist 45(10):1146-1158.

Viner, R. (1999) Putting Stress in Life: Hans Selye and the Making of Stress Theory Social Studies of Science, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jun., 1999), pp. 391-410

This is a cardinal point to recall when considering effects of stress in the workplace. Many stress-related disorders have their origin in the workplace and in working conditions, and many stress-related disorders affect job performance and activity in the workplace. Job stress (sometimes also known as “job burnout”) is associated with reactions that may lead to compromised health, psychological breakdown, cardiovascular disease and death, in some cases self-inflicted. Psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression, chronic anger, maladaptive behaviors such as aggression and drug abuse, cognitive difficulties, forms of emotional strain such as fatigue and tension, all have a potentially negative impact on work performance and all, in turn, can be caused by workplace conditions that foster poor physical and psychological health. The scope of the problem and the varieties of its manifestations are vast, and while various physical and psychological health-enhancing practices can modify their impact in individual cases, fully health-enhancing results may not be attainable until objective factors such as long hours, tight deadlines, repetitive practices, and uncertain job security can be addressed.

A Major Social Problem

According to United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report, stress is a major problem in the modern work environment. One-quarter of employees regard their jobs as the number one source of stress in their lives, fully one-third of employees report high levels of stress, and three-quarters of employees feel work involves more on-the-job stress than it did even a single generation ago. Evidence from the United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report also indicates that stress is the major cause of turnover in organizations.

According to one analysis sponsored by an insurance organization, work-related stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than are any other source of stress in the lives of those responding. Family problems, even financial problems as such, reportedly cause less stress and less subsequent physiological damage. Numerous studies also indicate that psychologically stressful work, particularly that which gives employees little individual autonomy or control over the work process, steeply increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Research by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and other organizations also markedly increases the risk for development of back and upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders.

Stress can have accumulative negative effects on the health of its victims over the course of time. Stress researchers have long known of the correlation between stress and cardiovascular illnesses, but work stress has been shown to lead to related health problems as well, ranging from hypertension and coronary artery disease, to the full range of stress-induced illnesses, all of which are presenting a growing profile in the currently recessionary American workplace.

The consequences of such high levels of stress are reflected in the rising curve of increased use of health care services. The net effect is as unhealthy for businesses as for workers. Periods of disability for stress-related incapacitation last significantly longer than disability periods for other occupation-related illnesses. Workers reporting stress at work also exhibit a greater need for, and use of, subsequent health care. A 1998 study of forty-six thousand workers reported that health care costs were nearly fifty percent greater for workers reporting high levels of stress, than for workers reporting fewer stress reactions. That percentage rose to nearly one hundred and fifty percent, a cost boost of over $1700 per person per year, for workers reporting high levels of both stress and depression.

Signs of work-related stress can include mood disturbance, sleep disturbance, gastrointestinal disorders, headache, increased problems involving personal relationships with family and friends, and, in some instances, suicide. Stress may also be manifested in willful sabotage against the employee’s firm, sometimes to disastrous extremes: the term “Going Postal”, a synonym for explosive uncontrolled anger, stemmed from the repeated incidents of mass murder perpetrated against their fellow employees by postal workers who, presumably, were themselves victims of workplace-related stress.

Causes of Workplace Stress

What makes work stressful, as opposed to challenging? According to one perspective, stress arises from a mismatch between the worker and the task and/or the workplace conditions. Some workers have a very low tolerance for boredom and repetition, for instance, whereas others have a high capacity to function well under those circumstances. Some workers may function poorly under tight deadlines or restrictive micromanagement, while others thrive when precise guidelines are given. In predicting whether certain job conditions will result in stress, close profiling of the psychology of the worker is crucial: what is stressful for one worker may be welcome, even inviting, to another. This perspective underlies many employee retention strategies and survey-analytic approaches in hiring.

Here the goal is not to modify the work to better enable the workers to cope with demanding job conditions, but rather to find and place the ideal workers for the given work environment. It is a strategy that workers would be wise to employ as well. Should a worker take a job purely in order to have a job? Obviously, this is fact-specific; however, in certain cases, where possible, a worker should strongly examine whether there is a positive fit between his or her personality and the culture of the workplace. If the fit is neutral to poor, alternative positions may need to be sought, examined, and explored.

However, there is research evidence which indicates that certain working conditions will produce increased stress reactions in most people regardless of their personal inclinations in favor of particular sorts of employment. Actual physical danger on a job is not so much the difficulty as the amount of time, intensity and deadlines involved. According to one estimate, over twenty-six percent of men and over eleven percent of women in the American workplace worked 50 hours per week or more in the year 2000, when prices were lower and the economy far stronger. For women in particular these figures represent a considerable increase over the preceding decades. Moreover, there is a rising trend in the number of hours worked by employed women, according to the Department of Labor, and a major increase in the combined working hours of working couples, especially couples with young children. The resulting increased strain on personal and family relationships build up stress that inevitably loops back and hurts both work performance and the performer.

Time-related job stress is by no means restricted to Americans. The Japanese language has given the world the term for a phenomenon on the rise in that nation: karoshi – death from overwork. Surveys for conditions known to be risk factors for job stress were conducted in member states of the European Union in five-year intervals stretching from 1990 to 2000. Time analysis trends indicated a more than doubled increase in labor intensity: forty-eight percent of workers reported worked at high speeds at least one-quarter of their working time in 1990, but that increased to fifty-four percent in 1995, and to fifty-six percent in 2000. The initial rise in productivity may be impressive, but the long-term effects on the workers and the industries may be impressive in quite another way. In terms of stress and physiology, the results can resemble pressing a gas pedal to the floor: the car may move faster, but the motor burns out faster too.

Several studies present evidence suggesting that placing a greater emphasis on improving working conditions and on job redesign may be a preferred strategy to develop consistent productivity, in that it avoids the high longer-term negative costs of high employee turnover and health care utilization.

Causes of stress are by no means limited to time and workload. Status in the workplace is a well-known source of stress. Employees with very little influence or who have less control over their jobs are more likely to suffer stress than more influential employees. Yet at the same time, managers and supervisors are vulnerable to work overload as well as to the psychic costs of social distance and in some cases dislike and rejection by the workforce.

An uncertain economy, increased competition from global competitors, the speed-up resulting from instant communications network that is the internet, the fading away of socially cohesive protective organizations such as trade unions, the ongoing problems of internal politics and jockeying for positions – all combine to make the workplace a rich source of psychological challenge and, in some cases, psychological and physical illness.

Preventing Job Stress

Individual stress on the job is best addressed by using the many approaches for dealing with stress on a personal basis. But in terms of building a healthy and productive workplace, the best route may be a combination of stress management programs, job redesign, and organizational development.

The effectiveness of stress management programs can be considerable. In one set of insurance organization studies on the effects of stress prevention programs in terms of a hospital setting, employees and managers were educated about the subject of job-related stress, changes in hospital policies and procedures to reduce organizational sources of stress, and employee assistance programs were started. One such study showed that medication errors declined fifty percent once prevention activities were put into place. A second study showed a seventy percent reduction in malpractice claims in twenty-two hospitals that initiated stress prevention practices, as opposed to no reduction in a matched group of twenty-two hospitals not engaging in such practices.

Telecommuting is another way of reducing workplace stress by actively modifying the experience of the workplace. Telecommuters often report not only reduced stress but greater job satisfaction, less interest in seeking a different position, and higher performance ratings from their managers. One possible reason for the increase in positive reports may be the element of increased personal control: telecommuting workers have more control over the manner over how their work is done, and the positive benefits of increased autonomy is reflected in both their own reports and the company’s bottom line.

Again, workplace-related stress can be addressed by a wide range of the many stress-busting approaches and practices used to deal with other forms of stress. This website presents numerous stress-reducing approaches, as well examining suggestions and strategies for addressing workplace-related stress. The fact remains, stress is in many cases a response caused by a genuinely stressful environment, and so long as only the response to that environment is the object of modification, the cause can be expected to result in undesirable consequences for employees and employers both.

A significant aspect of improving job-related stress must consist of improving the actual elements of the position, and among the most effective ways of doing so have included better defining work roles and responsibilities, improving management-employee communications, reducing uncertainty regarding future career paths and retainment practices, increasing opportunities for social interaction, arranging work schedules compatible with family and other responsibilities, ensuring that work and workloads are commensurable with employee skills and stamina, and thoughtfully and intelligently designing work that provides meaning and stimulation within the employee’s framework of values.

Not an easy task, perhaps. But then, that is why they call it work.

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Viner, R. (1999) Putting Stress in Life: Hans Selye and the Making of Stress Theory Social Studies of Science, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jun., 1999), pp. 391-410