In Your Debt: How debt-related stress affects body and mind

Being in debt feels like you’re always a step behind. It doesn’t help that debt is spoken about as something that’s your fault — too much online shopping, or too many pricey pitchers of mimosas at brunch.

“In our culture, in our country, we have a lot of noise about debt,” says Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based financial therapist and author of “The Financial Anxiety Solution.” “We make it mean a lot about who we are, our character, our willpower.”

In reality, debt isn’t always the result of things you can control. For example, 58% of debts in collections as of 2021 were medical debts, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Regardless of the reason you’re in debt, it hangs over everything, affecting how you feel physically and mentally, and how you interact with others. Here are stories of people who’ve tackled debt and managed the stress that comes with it.

‘I CAN’T SLEEP, THINKING ABOUT IT’

Debt-related stress can be the source of several physical concerns, like elevated heart rate and blood pressure, insomnia and digestive issues. Over time, it can worsen. “The research shows that long-term stress can lead to depression,” says Thomas Faupl, a licensed marriage and family therapist in San Francisco.

Claudia McMullin ’s business, Hugo Coffee Roasters, suffered financially as a result of the pandemic. “COVID hit and I lost all my businesses overnight,” she says, referring to her coffee shop and roasting company, both based in Park City, Utah. “I did not have a cushion to survive. I had to immediately raise funds as fast as possible.”

McMullin got some help from Small Business Administration loans, like the Paycheck Protection Program, that became available at the onset of the pandemic. In a moment of desperation, she applied for a...