Cost-of-Living Crisis: The Impact on Mental Health

Clinical Psychologist, Dr Tom Richardson provided insight into the impact that the cost-of-living crisis has on mental health. Speaking at the Southampton Cost of Living Summit, Tom shared findings from research, including that those of low socio-economic status have an increased risk of mental health problems, and that recessions lead to an increase in depression and anxiety, substance use problems and suicidal behaviour

Tom, who works in teaching and research in the School of Psychology around Adult Mental Health, reported that:

●      Those in debt are more than 3 times as likely to have a mental health disorder.

●       9% of those with no mental disorder are in debt compared to 25% in debt in those with MH.

●       42% of those in debt have mental disorder compared to 18% of those not in debt.

Tom highlighted the key issues of shame and hopelessness relating to debt, and how stressed people feel about their debt is more important than the actual amount of debt in terms of impact on depression. There is a vicious cycle between finances and mental health, so services need to work closely to work on both problems at the same time.

Duncan House, from Southampton City Mission, said that the thing he had particularly learnt from the session was ’The link between mental health and poverty, depression equating to reduced personal agency’.

The academic input was coupled with insights from Advice in Southampton. Citizens Advice Southampton's Chief Officer, Liz Donegan, reported that advice enquiries had doubled this year in some parts of the city like Bassett and Coxford. She mentioned the issue of older and disabled people with fixed incomes and limited scope to increase income, as well as the threat of benefits not being increased in line with inflation.

Love Southampton Independent Chair, Keith Brown said, ‘As well as the enormous financial strain on households caused by the cost-of-living crisis, the mental health impact is substantial and at a time when people’s resilience is at an all-time low following the pandemic. The over-riding message of our summit is ‘There is hope’ and we must work together to alleviate the shame and hopelessness experienced by people facing overwhelming bills’.

You can watch Tom’s keynote from the Cost-of-Living summit here.