Chrometophobia can be so debilitating that sufferers cannot socialise, manage their finances or even feel able to pay for essential medical care. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Offering to pick up the tab after a meal out can be a nerve-wracking experience as your bank balance ticks down to previously unknown depths. But for a small number of people, paying a large bill would be their worst nightmare.
Chrometophobia is a rare and debilitating condition causing extreme stress and anxiety at the mere thought of spending money, akin to an arachnophobic discovering a tarantula in the bedsheets.
The condition can be so debilitating that sufferers cannot socialise, manage their finances or even feel able to pay for essential medical care.
Here, Telegraph Money explains how to spot the symptoms, and what lies behind the phobia.
Chrometophobia – which comes from the Greek word “chermato”, meaning “money” – is an extreme, irrational and overwhelming fear of spending money, and sometimes of money itself.
Sufferers can experience intense anxiety or panic at the sight, smell or touch of physical money, or at the thought of spending it.
Some people report being afraid of making money because they worry they would mismanage it. Others become anxious if they are near objects that have a high monetary value, such as rare art, expensive cars or jewellery.
The following behaviours are typical of chrometophobia sufferers:
Around 7.5 per cent of the British population suffer from some sort of phobia, equating to nearly 5 million people.
However, because diagnostic criteria apply to all phobias, no statistics exist for specific variants – chrometophobia included.
Wendy Quinn, a hypnotherapist and psychotherapist who has been treating phobias at her Dublin clinic for 18 years, said she tends to encounter two or three cases of the condition a year.
She said: “Fear of driving and fear of flying are far more common, but even though chrometophobia is much more rare, it can be debilitating and hold people back.”
The comparative rarity of the condition is “absolutely” down to under-diagnosis, she added.
“I’ve had people coming to me with fear of money, but they don’t know the term chrometophobia.
“They would come with anxiety and other symptoms and then when we peel it back we would discover their irrational fear.”
Joyce Marter, a psychotherapist and mental health expert, says a harsh economic climate tends to increase the prevalence of chrometophobia.
She said: “In 25 years of clinical practice, I have seen dozens of cases – especially during times of economic distress and/or when there is another underlying mental health condition, such as generalised anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder.
“During the current period of global economic uncertainty, money anxiety [is] much more common, which has increased occurrences of the condition.”
Phobias such as chrometophobia have a wide variety of symptoms that can vary significantly, with some people experiencing frequent, severe symptoms, while others will have occasional mild bouts.
Symptoms can occur when a sufferer is faced with spending money, when there is a risk of spending or coming into contact with money, or merely thinking about or remembering spending money.
The condition is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder, where a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears leads to repetitive behaviours.
Quinn said: “There is a compulsive element to it – the compulsion to spend, to save or to avoid money.”
The pandemic has turbo-charged these anxieties, she added.
“Covid has made lots of different anxiety disorders worse. In this case, fewer people are handling money, so for people with a fear of handling cash because of the bacteria, their anxiety can shoot up and they can have a panic attack.”
Chrometophobia can also trigger or exacerbate mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, and can contribute to physical health conditions such as gastrointestinal problems, hypertension and heart disease, and diabetes.
The impact on someone’s life can be profound, Quinn said. “A fear around spending money can stop sufferers from going out, stop them having fun, stop them buying things and severely affect relationships.”
For someone to be classified as suffering from chrometophobia, they’ll likely experience the following:
Because money influences everything from basic needs to social status, professional success, and psychological well-being, the fact it can be a source of fear and stress is perhaps unsurprising.
Yet the key to explaining why a phobia develops often lies in a patient’s past. Chrometophobia can be caused by childhood trauma and deeper emotional issues, Quinn said.
“The family attitude towards money growing up can affect it, and fear can be passed down through parents if there were financial difficulties. If you’ve felt this fear and anxiety as a young child, it can grow.”
Negative or traumatic experiences could include seeing parents fight or break up over money, experiencing them getting into debt, seeing them get scammed after making a purchase, or believing you caught a virus or illness from touching notes or coins.
The event that caused the traumatic conditioning may not have involved real danger or risk. However, as long as someone experienced significant fear or distress, this can lead to developing the phobia.
Marter said: “The longer the duration of the financial traumas, the higher the severity of those experiences, and the more frequent they have been can all increase the likelihood of chrometophobia.
“People with less support and underlying mental health conditions are also at higher risk.”
Current financial circumstances can also play a role, as well as the time of year, according to Quinn.
“Losing a job or worries about your career can definitely have an effect. The Christmas period can also prompt the condition, with its focus on spending money, and can increase anxiety.
“Even at the end of summer, negative thoughts can start to emerge about Christmas and how they are going to cope. People can feel overwhelmed with the pressure to spend and buy presents.”
Quinn treats the disorder with a mixture of psychological techniques, including mental exercises in which patients imagine themselves entering a room with money in it, known as exposure therapy.
She said: “If a client’s fear was around the bacteria from holding or touching money, for example, and if they glimpsed a coin from the corner of their eye, this would bring up huge anxiety and fear.
“Through mental visualisation we would bring them in and out of a situation where they would get closer to this coin, after first establishing a safe place where they were feeling calm and relaxed.
“When the client has tools for emotional regulation, then I might bring a real coin into the room. But in psychology the mind and imagination are most important, because thoughts create feelings and feelings affect our behaviour.
“So if we change our thoughts through mental imagery, the feelings can change without having the money in the room.
“And if someone is scared of spending or losing money, I play through different scenarios where they are exposed to their worst fear, but are also in control and can cope well. It can take a different amount of time for different individuals.”
Quinn uses a two-pronged approach for the most severe cases of chrometophobia.
“The first deals with immediate issues – learning how to cope. This includes breathing techniques, hypnosis and exposure therapy, to create emotional calm and coping mechanisms.
“Then if there are deeper emotional issues, we explore what the root causes of the anxiety are, going back into childhood.”
One of the biggest obstacles to recovery is not seeking treatment in the first place, she adds, which is why talking about the condition is important.
“It really helps for people to know they’re not alone and that they can go and get help.”
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