Student loan debt has huge mental health aspects

Student loan debt has huge mental health aspectsStudent loan debt has huge mental health aspectsMay is Mental Health Awareness Month. Its the one month out of the year when we try to bring awareness to mental health and all of its causes and effects. Its been well known that financial problems can cause mental health problems. In fact, my friend Melanie Lockert, ofDear Debt, focuses on this very topic in her work. She learned years ago that many of the people were coming to her website because they were Googling about debt and suicide.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIn honor of the theme for this month,Student Loan Plannerran a survey on mental health and student loan debt. Their readership is more likely to have high student loan balances, which influences the responses to the survey. Here is what they foundNinety percent of borrowers experienced significant anxiety due to the their student loan burden.One in 15 borrowers has considered suicide due to their student loans.More than half of high debt student loan borrowers have experienced depression because of their debt.Why are respondents feeling so awful? Because there is a sense of helplessness when there is so much debt and not enough income to match it. The 829 respondents of this survey are not alone. In fact, there are currently 44 million U.S. student loan borrowers who owe a total of 1.5 trillion dollars. This is especially painful now as wages have stagnated while education costs have increased.This is especially true for those who have higher student loan balances. The survey found that one in nine borrowers who owe $80,000 to $150,000 in student loan debt considered suicide because of their debt. Thats almost double than that of overall student loan borrowers. The survey found that this range of borrowers were feeling the most pain because of their debt to income ratio. Their debt is high but their income is not necessarily high enough to cover it.These are some pretty sobering and upsetting statistics. I dont want to leave you with the bad and not propose any solutions or actions you can take. Here are just some of my ideasReally consider what youre getting into if you decide to go back to school for another degree. A lot of people are tempted to go back to school if they are feeling s-lost or stumped in their career. But is the debt always worth it? Its something to ask yurself before you take the leap. (I spoke toEmilie Aries at Bossed Up about this a while back.)Make sure you qualify and are making the proper payments forstudent loan forgiveness. Not everyone can qualify for this, but if youre working in a field that does, make sure youre taking advantage of it. Talk to your HR department and your student loan provider to get started on the right path.Start lobbying your decision makers for affordable higher education The cost of higher education has gone up by over 200% since the 80s. Thats a LOT in a short amount of time, especially since wages have not increased at the same pace. This is a major problem, and its something that can be controlled. Affordable education is a hot button issue right now, rightly so, and our decision makers should be getting pressured at every turn. Make sure they know that its one of the issues that will sway your vote.Seek helpif youre feeling anxious, depressed, hopeless, or suicidal. Your debt doesnt have to consume you. I know that healthcare, especially mental healthcare, is expensive and hard to access. But there are affordable options out there, especially if your safety is at risk.The moral of this article is that its normal and common to feel bad about your financial situation, especially when a lot of debt is involved. Youre far from the only person who feels this way. But its important to remember that your debt doesnt define you. You have inherent worth outside of these things. Reach out and get help w hen you need it. Talk to a friend for family member,find a therapist, hire a coach, orcall a hotline.This article originally appeared on Maggie Germano.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people