IVA advice: DRIP Syndrome

Research conducted by the Co-operative Bank has recently revealed that a huge 70% of individuals that took part in the study had significant debt issues, with almost half of those affected confirming that they had no intention to seek IVA debt advice to try to help with the situation.

The researchers gathered the opinions of 1510 adults in the UK via an online survey during February 2012. So what are the reasons why so many people allow debt problems to escalate to a severe level before taking such debt advice? In this article, we’ll investigate but if you require free advice from a debt professional please contact us as soon as possible.

Following the information gathered by the Co-operative Bank in this study, the researchers discovered some characteristics that could be generalised about the majority of those suffering from debt problems but unwilling to seek IVA advice or free advice on debt in general. They included: the denial of the significant debt, the rationalisation of why they are in so much debt, ignoring what they owe and the postponing of taking action to seek free debt advice. An acronym of these characteristics has been created and dubbed ‘DRIP’ Syndrome. It has also been found that these characteristics, along with the worry of debt, can cause a significant number of physical and mental health problems.

Some of these health problems can have a huge impact on individual’s quality of life as the stress and worry of financial problems take over. Expert psychologists have warned that it can be easy to get sucked into what is commonly known as “debtpression”, with one in three of those asked in the study admitting to depressive symptoms due to their money worries. Sixty per cent of the individuals said they had suffered sleepless nights, whilst a quarter said they had put on weight through comfort eating and nearly one in three said they had experienced anxiety attacks. Other reported symptoms included tension, low self-esteem, moodiness, feelings of shame and embarrassment, crying, being argumentative and skin problems.

Here at X-debt, we understand that it isn’t easy for anyone to pick up the phone for the first time to seek IVA advice from an IVA specialist. However, once this step has been taken, the advance towards a positive managed outcome, and the progression towards a healthier state of mind and physical wellbeing, can be swift.