Spending is No Remedy for Mental Health Credit Crisis

The impact of the financial crisis on those with mental health problems is likely to be considerable. One in three people with serious mental health problems are in debt, and they are also approximately three times more likely than average to be in debt.

The reasons for this are manifold, ranging from the pressures of living on a low income - especially for an extended period of time - to patterns of spending associated with certain health conditions, in the case, for example, of manic spending sprees. People experiencing mental health problems may also find it difficult to access help and may tend instead to withdraw and let debts pile up, especially if they find communication difficult. This often leads to things reaching crisis point before anyone realizes there's a problem.

Benefit disruption caused by hospital stays and by entering and leaving employment, delays in processing benefit claims, and ignorance as to benefit entitlement are also major factors. A credit card can seem a more immediate, reliable and less stigmatizing option than an application for disability benefits, especially for someone who may not consider themselves to have a mental health problem.

When I first broke down, I stopped going to work, and so stopped earning a living, but I didn't recognise my problems as having anything to do with mental health. My world had stopped turning; I had ceased to exist. These were stark facts, not symptoms of a psychiatric problem. I didn't apply for benefits because it didn't occur to me to do so.

I actually remember bumping into someone I'd vaguely known at college. Perhaps because I didn't know him very well, or perhaps just because he happened to be there at that particular moment, I ended up blurting out rather more of my situation than he had probably anticipated in response to his casual "How are you?". He was kind, if somewhat taken aback. He must have asked what I was living on, as I remember him urging me forcefully to apply for sickness benefit. "That's exactly what it's there for," he said. I can still recall my sense of confusion as I promised to look into it and hurried away, bemused by his misunderstanding.

I lived on credit, with the unsurprising result that by the time I osmosed into the psychiatric system, perhaps eight months later, I was in quite considerable debt. Not only can mental health problems lead people into debt, they are also greatly exacerbated by it. A vicious circle is quickly created that can leave already vulnerable people feeling overwhelmed, hopeless, and even suicidal.

For myself, once I became a service user, I started receiving benefits, which gave me a reasonable amount to live on and also took care of my rent and council tax. I can clearly recall my sense of relief, which felt at the time like a stay of execution.

It wasn't until I sold my novel years later that I was finally able to clear my debts altogether. By which time, of course, I had made quite a name for myself among lenders as a reliable source of immodest interest payments. They must have been sorry to see me go, and expressed no small desire to woo me back. Each morning, I had to dig my way out, like a snowed-in Alaskan, through piles of offers from credit card companies, apparently quite unconcerned that I hadn't earned a bean in the last eight years. Until hypomanic and hospitalized, I took the bait and accepted them all at once, building up debts of £16,000 in the space of three days, doing night-time internet shopping on the smart phone that formed my not-very-smart first purchase.

People with mental health problems often need specialist help and advice from workers who understand their situation. Unfortunately, the financial crisis has already resulted in funding cuts as NHS trusts and councils seek to balance their books. If past experience is anything to go by, mental health services are likely to be hit disproportionately hard, at the very time when demand for them is soaring.

This is short-term, shortsighted thinking. It may strike some as a radical concept, but supporting people seems to me to be quite as important as supporting financial institutions.

• Clare Allan is a writer and author.