05/08/2025
🧠 May is Mental Health Awareness Month
But have you ever considered how money trauma affects mental health?
Mental health is defined as our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It impacts how we think, feel, act, and handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.
But here’s what many overlook:
💸 Financial trauma can silently shape our mental state, causing stress, anxiety, depression, and even long-term dysfunction in our relationships.
I know this firsthand. As a single parent, I had to make tough financial decisions—some of which meant forgoing activities or resources that could’ve nurtured my children’s emotional well-being.
I was doing the best I could, but I later realized that money stress, and limited financial options intersected deeply with our mental health as a family.
👉🏽 Divorce
👉🏽 Verbal or physical abuse
👉🏽 Poverty or being the sole provider
These are not just life events—they are financial triggers that can leave lasting scars.
And this doesn’t just start in adulthood.
Among Black communities, there's a generational silence around money—a result of historical trauma:
The burning of Black Wall Street
The Civil Rights Movement and economic suppression
Limited access to capital and inherited wealth
These events created financial distrust, fear, and shame that still echo today.
💡 So, how do we begin to heal?
🔹 See a financial behaviorist to understand your money patterns
🔹 Work with a therapist to unpack the trauma beneath the surface
🔹 Start honest conversations with your children about money and emotions
🔹 Redefine your relationship with wealth—not just as dollars, but as mental freedom
This Mental Health Month, let’s stop separating finances and feelings.
They walk hand in hand, especially in communities of color.
Let's choose healing over hiding.
—
Dr. Anita R. Johnson
Financial Behaviorist | Advocate for Financial Wellness in the Black Community
