Millennial Depression: How Finances Are Affecting the Mental Health of an Entire Generation

With each new generation comes new learning, advancements in technology and medicine, and more opportunity. At least that’s what the narrative says. 

Millennials have faced a unique hurdle in that they’re carrying more debt, earning less, and living with less social status than their ancestors. At the top of the challenges list is money. But why is this generation struggling so hard? 

Student Loans

From early years in school, most millennials were encouraged to pursue, if not pushed down a path for higher education. Earning a college degree was heavily tied into the definition of success. 

For so many millennials, pursuing that college degree wasn’t cheap. Student loans were the only way to make that degree accessible. The burden after graduation for that debt has led to delayed or unattainable life milestones, like purchasing a home or starting a family. For some, the financial stress from the debt alone has been significant.  

Inflation

Since entering adulthood, millennials have been impacted by event after event that has caused rising costs. There was the economic crash in 2008, multiple wars, the Covid crisis, and an inflation frenzy as the world tries to rebuild post-pandemic. 

The housing market has been a roller coaster with high extremes, childcare costs have risen, auto prices have increased while stock decreased, and even grocery prices have skyrocketed. With basic necessities being so expensive, saving and investing in the future for retirement has been difficult, if not impossible.

Wage Stagnancy

Costs of living have increased, but wages have remained relatively stagnant. Entering the workforce making a minimum wage or coming out of college with loans and a low entry level salary has made any large ticket items unaffordable. 

Job Market

Securing jobs for many millennials out of college was an uphill battle. Finding jobs that paid well and provided competitive benefits was tough, and keeping them was even harder. 

Over the years, the job market hasn’t been much kinder. The market has been unstable. Entry level jobs have come and gone. Pay scales have been re-evaluated with added responsibilities and demands. 

Societal Factors

There's a lot of chatter around millennials being lazy or complainers where as the generations before simply worked hard and faced their own struggles. Unfortunately, there’s more to that story.

Education System

As stated, there was a push for millennials to go the college route. During the time in college, there was a shift that happened — making a bachelor’s degree not sufficient enough in some cases. Degree inflation caused an accumulation of student loan debt, a staggering $482.4 billion to be exact, with inadequate rewards.

Wage Gap

Those in previous generations who were able to obtain a certain level of wealth have been able to capitalize on that. There’s an income inequality that has plagued millennials over the last couple decades. Finding financial security has been one of the biggest challenges as incomes have remained stagnant and prices have increased. Cost to income gaps for previous generations didn't exist in the same manner.

Social Safety

As disposable income has diminished and costs continue to soar, being able to take care of themselves has been more difficult. As many as 93% of the millennial population has reported avoiding making routine doctors appointments because of insurance prices and medical debt.

The Connection Between Finances and Depression 

Being consistently concerned with finances and stressing about how to make ends meet in a world working against them has become a path towards depression. This prolonged worry has a huge impact on both physical and mental health. 

As they have aged and had less to show for themselves compared to the previous generations, the pressure and defeat has surpassed what would be considered normal. Not being able to seek necessary care due to financial concerns also has made mental health problems continue to grow.

If you’re a millennial and struggling with your mental health, contact us to see how we can help you with depression therapy.