This is in conversation from Apple News.
I'm Julia Carpenter filling in for Shamita Basu.
Today, the hidden costs of financial trauma and ways to cope.
When Megan McCoy was in college, she was paying her way through school by working as a waitress.
One night she made about $70 in tips and on her bus ride home, she lost it.
That stunk.
Like it stunk to have to eat ramen or whatever it is.
But the amount of self negative talk that I did afterwards,
like how incompetent I am, how I always am messing up with money,
how I can never keep a dollar in my pocket, those conversations became embedded in how I saw myself.
It took 15 years for Megan to recognize the huge effect of that small mistake.
Every time someone gave me physical cash,
I blew it immediately because the idea of having cash on my body scared me so much
that I would end up spending it or putting it somewhere stupid and losing it.
And so my behaviors caused a ripple effect that caused more negative behaviors more times
as self blame
and self destruction.
Megan eventually became a marriage and family therapist specializing in financial therapy.
She's also an assistant professor at Kansas State University.
Financial therapy brings together expertise in money and mental health.