Do Money Issues Make You Anxious?
Hurley Morgan
Senior Managing Editor
As we look at the events that happen locally, nationally, and even internationally, we are often reminded that issues surrounding mental health is overlooked or cheated out of the appropriate amount of attention that is needed to be given to it. This appears to be more prominent in the African American community. The men of the African American Community want to be looked at as the foundation and protectors of the community, but in order to REALLY be able to warrant such consideration we have to be able to become knowledgeable of ALL the needs of the community and be prepared to appropriately address them. We stay on the issues that involve politics and our entertainers, musicians, and athletes. We are now trying look more into issues surrounding our physical health as well. Areas that seem to lack the appropriate attention, however, that we need to also consider to be vital areas that desperately need to be discussed more are areas surrounding finances and mental health. Why did I choose to put the two areas together? It’s simple…there are often financial strains within our community dealing with the likes of financial resources, poverty, and higher unemployment rates just to name a few. How does this in turn correlate to mental health issues? The answer is simple…problems surrounding money can often lead to issues such as high anxiety.
Now…what is anxiety? First and foremost anxiety is a form of mental illness. In the world of mental health, mental health professionals and physicians utilize The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is known in the mental health world here in the US as the Mental Health Bible. The fifth edition of this manual is now being used and it is called The DSM-V for short. This manual is used to diagnose mental disorders in the United States. This manual contains the descriptions, symptoms, and other criteria for diagnosing all known mental disorders.For the purposes of this article we will narrow down anxiety to what is called generalized anxiety. The DSM-V defines generalized anxiety as excessive anxiety and worry (apprehensive expectation) that occurs more days than not for at least 6 months. This anxiety or worry is could come from a number of events or activities such as work or school performance, and in the case of this article stress over money. With generalized anxiety the person finds it very difficult to control the worry. Some symptoms of generalized anxiety include: restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge; being easily fatigued; difficulty concentrating or mind going blank; irritability; muscle tension; sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless unsatisfying sleep). This anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms can go on to cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.