Originally posted by gandhi
reply to post by thecinic
Yeah, because money determines happiness and mental health......
Actually it can and does in certain facets.
If your born without any money and grew up without any, it might not have said effect on an individual.
If your born with a silver spoon, and grew up with everything, losing it may have a negative effect on ones psyche.
Now where it can and does effect people's mental health, is if they earned it themselves through hard work, solid investments and long hours; and
then lose it all.
I fall into the latter category. I was born to a family with hard working parents and although did not have the world in my toy box, I was spoiled. As
I grew up, I worked hard to achieve the same kind of stability as my parents achieved. I ended up achieving exactly what my father did. I did this
through real estate and proper investments. I grew accustomed to a certain lifestyle. About 4 years ago, when the housing market took the hit, I lost
over the course of a year and half everything I made and more.
My mental health degraded profoundly. Due to this, my happiness also withered away.
Now, I am a strong person. After I wallowed in my despair for a lengthy time, during which suicide did in fact enter my head. When I realized the self
pity and a world of 'what if's' was not going to fix my problem, I took it as a challenge to get back to where I was and push forward even
further.
I am not where I was yet, but I have a desire to bounce back.
One thing that I learned was empathy. I now, donate free time to help less fortunate out. I volunteer at food drives, often bring the homeless
clothing and food and try to be a better person all around to society than I ever was before.
Bottom line. Yes money can play an important role in ones mental health. One just has to be strong enough to deal with the adversity and keep a
positive attitude. Not everyone is built that way.