ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the question of money and the strong emotional reactions we often have to it, how the disparity in wealth between the ‘super-rich’ and the rest of the world’s population affects us all in complex and varied ways and particularly our mental as well as physical health. It will also discuss how while money is central to all our lives it is an issue rarely if ever addressed in therapy and the possible reasons for this, going back to Freud and the dire consequences of this since.
The vast inequality in wealth globally and nationally is reflected in policies of austerity that deprive the poorest people in our society causing untold suffering, while serving to increase the wealth of the very rich. The very rich are also the main beneficiaries of the privatisation of NHS mental health services where profits for shareholders take priority over the needs of patients and the well-being of the people who work for them.
The author discusses how his own personal prior life experience interacted with his experience as a consultant psychotherapist in an NHS service under threat and how he tried to make sense of this interaction of the political and personal from a CAT perspective, using these insights in his collaboration with colleagues to fight for their service.
