The Impact of Economic Conditions on Human Psychology - پایگاه مستقل خبری طرحواره درمانی ایران و جهان

The Impact of Economic Conditions on Human Psychology A Schema-Focused Clinical Analysis

Dr. Mohammad Faghanpour Ganji

International Schema Therapy Supervisor & Trainer (ISST)

Founder of SchemaNews.org

Introduction: Economy as the Psychological Climate of Society

The economy is not merely a collection of numbers, charts, and indicators.

It is the psychological climate in which individuals and societies live.

In recent years—particularly in countries facing chronic inflation, economic instability, and prolonged uncertainty—I have observed a growing group of clients whose psychological distress is not rooted in a single trauma or interpersonal conflict, but in long-term exposure to economic insecurity. Anxiety, depression, chronic irritability, emotional numbness, and loss of meaning increasingly emerge as natural psychological responses to unstable economic environments.

This article explores a fundamental question:

How do economic conditions shape the human psyche?

1. Economic Instability as a Chronic Schema Activator

From a schema therapy perspective, unstable economic conditions act as powerful and persistent schema activators, especially for early maladaptive schemas related to safety, worth, and control.

Vulnerability to Harm or Illness

Economic instability, inflation, and job insecurity keep the nervous system in a constant state of threat anticipation. The world feels unpredictable and unsafe, leading to chronic anxiety, hypervigilance, sleep disturbances, and compulsive control behaviors—particularly around money.

Emotional Deprivation

Financial pressure often reduces caregivers’ emotional availability. Parents under economic stress may be physically present but emotionally absent, reinforcing the schema that one’s emotional needs will not be met.

Failure / Defectiveness

When effort does not translate into stability or progress, individuals internalize a powerful message: “No matter what I do, it’s never enough.” Over time, this fuels shame, helplessness, and depressive resignation.

Research consistently shows that perceived economic inequality is psychologically more damaging than absolute poverty, strongly correlating with depression, anger, and social mistrust.

2. Economic Stress and the Brain: When Survival Replaces Meaning

Neuroscientific research demonstrates that chronic financial stress:

Overactivates the amygdala (fear and threat detection)
Impairs prefrontal cortex functioning (decision-making, planning, emotional regulation)
Dysregulates the brain’s reward system (anhedonia, emotional numbness)

Under such conditions, individuals shift into what can be described as “survival mode.” Life becomes less about growth, creativity, or meaning—and more about endurance.

These findings align with studies published in The Lancet Psychiatry and American Journal of Psychiatry, which document significant increases in anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and suicide rates during periods of economic crisis.

3. Societal and Relational Consequences of Economic Pressure

Increased Couple and Family Conflict

Money often symbolically represents safety, autonomy, and self-worth. When financial security is threatened, relational security deteriorates as well, leading to increased conflict, blame, and emotional withdrawal.

Erosion of Collective Hope

Societies without a visible future orientation tend to drift toward emotional exhaustion, moral disengagement, and polarized emotional climates—ranging from explosive anger to depressive apathy.

The Rise of Survival-Mode Cultures

At a societal level, chronic economic stress fosters cultures characterized by reduced empathy, short-term thinking, and competitive hostility. Long-term values are sacrificed for immediate survival.

4. What Research Tells Us: Evidence from Psychology and Public Health

The Spirit Level demonstrates how income inequality predicts higher rates of anxiety, depression, violence, and social mistrust.
Scarcity explains how financial scarcity consumes cognitive bandwidth and impairs judgment and self-control.
Post-2008 financial crisis studies published in British Journal of Psychiatry report significant rises in mood disorders and suicide rates.
Reports by the World Health Organization emphasize that mental health cannot be sustainably protected without economic security.

5. A Therapeutic Perspective: What Can Be Done?

At the Individual Level

Separating self-worth from financial status
Identifying survival modes triggered by economic stress
Strengthening the Healthy Adult Mode through emotional regulation, reality-based planning, and self-compassion

At the Clinical and Professional Level

Recognizing economic conditions as part of the therapeutic context—not a background variable
Avoiding excessive individualization of structurally induced suffering
Integrating economic awareness into psychoeducation and treatment planning

Conclusion

Economic instability does not only drain financial resources—it exhausts psychological resilience.

Effective mental health practice in today’s world requires an integrated understanding of the dynamic relationship between economy, psychological schemas, and social structures. Schema therapy offers a powerful framework for understanding how external instability activates internal wounds—and how awareness can help individuals move from survival mode back into a life-oriented mode of being.