It's always hanging over you, getting you down, making it difficult to live your life the way you would like to. This article takes a look at how to recognise debt stress, and what you can do about it.

The Symptoms of Debt Stress

There are numerous symptoms that can be caused by stress. Some of the most common ones are:

feeling depressed and irritable

headaches

not being able to sleep

forgetfulness

lack of concentration

If you have some of these symptoms but you're unsure whether they are related to stress a visit to your Doctor may be in order.

Who Gets Debt Stress?

Just about everybody that has debts gets stressed about them. Debt results in millions of days off work every year and it's statistically one of the leading causes of suicide. When you read about someone who has committed suicide it's very common to find their name is followed by "who owed [a very large amount] in debts".

Students and graduates are among the most vunerable, as debt is growing here faster than in any other sector of society.

It's very easy for anybody to rely on their credit card, a little here and a little there and before you know it you owe thousands.

The average adult now owes many thousands in debts, tens of thousands even and as that's the average, then it stands to reason that many people must owe much more.

This being the case then always remember that you're not alone, other people are suffering in the same way and there may well be many worse off than you.

How Do You Deal With It?

The perception of stress caused by debt is often of embarrassment or shame. People with lots of debts don't want to talk about it, even with their family or close friends, for fear of upsetting people or looking like a failure.

It's essential that you talk about your problems, storing it up inside will result in even more stress. If you talk to no one else you should at least talk to your partner. They are in the best position to understand and possibly help you.

When you're ready to confront your debt stress probably the best route is to find two people outside of your partner, one who can advise you and one who can act as a counsellor.

That means a professional who knows what they're doing in regard to financial matters and possibly a psychologist or psychiatrist or some other kind of counsellor. Don't let stigmas deter you, this is about your health which is much more important.

The next thing to do is to consider how you created the debt to begin with. Dig out your old credit card statements. What did you spend the money on?

By far the best way to defeat your debt stress is to pay back your debts.

You need to sit down and work out a budget based on your income and expenditure, cut as many unnecessary expenses as possible and try to free up as much money as you can to pay back the debts.

Even if it will take a while to clear the debt you know that your debt is gradually going down and as it does your debt stress will follow.