New illness - financial phobia NJC

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Researchers at Cambridge University in England have identified a new phobia - "financial phobia" - which they believe afflicts 9 million people in the UK. And I am one of them!! Sufferers describe how they feel almost faint at the thought of opening a bank statement or a bill ( I am exactly like this), and also how the phobia started after some financial trauma. In my case, this was being a student and going to the cash machine (ATM) ONE day after my grant had arrived -- which was supposed to last me for three months -- and being told I already had an unauthorized overdraft, meaning I had already spent my next three months' worth of money before I had even got it. And then getting letters from Barclays Bank charging me 15 pounds per letter to tell me about the overdraft. . . I spent three years like this, and it has definitely affected me. Even now, if I know I have money in an account, if I have to use an ATM, I stand there shaking, waiting for that same old horrible message to appear, or a hand to reach out and grab me because I still owe Barclays money for their overdraft letters. So thank goodness it's now an illness with a name! See full story at http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,883805,00.html

Sarah