DIMH2023

Conference Content

Content for DIMH2023 consists of pre-recorded videos and written submissions, as well as additional curated content, such as relevant published academic papers, personal views, expert webinars, and news stories.

Videos & Podcasts

PROMO VIDEO FOR 20th july session called: “Our Own Relationship With Money: An Open Forum“

Discussion lead by Alex ‘Mechanikool’ Peters.

20th July @11:05 - 12pm UK time.

More details: https://www.beckyinkster.com/dimh2023ourownrelationshipwithmoney

PROMO VIDEO FOR 20th July session called: “FinTech & Wellbeing“

Video by: Gabriela Isas, CEO of Good With

Live Panel: Sarah Murphy, Dr. Vicky Root, Prof Tina Harrison, Dr. Ellie Kallis

20th July @3:05 - 4pm UK time.

More details: https://www.beckyinkster.com/dimh2023fintechandwellbeing

PROMO VIDEO FOR 20th july session called: “Money Mindset Myths & The Wellness Industry“

Discussion lead by Ariana Alexander-Sefre, Founder of Spoke, alongside other panellists including Victoria Dorling, CFA, Portfolio Specialist and psychologist, Paris Lalove.

20th July @2:05 - 3pm UK time.

More details: https://www.beckyinkster.com/dimh2023moneymindsetmyths

The Digital Divide Will Eat Your Money?

By: Alex Napp-Vega; Student Nicholas Napp / CEO, Xmark Labs LLC; Senior Member, IEEE

Talk Summary: At DIMH 2020, we gave a talk on the digital divide, the rapidly accelerating rate of technology development, and our belief that bridging the divide will be one of humanity's greatest challenges. The spectacular advances of Artificial Intelligence seen this year have accelerated both potential opportunities and causes for concern. In this talk we revisit our prior talk through the lens of recent advancements, money and mental health. We try to separate the facts from AI hype and discuss what happens next.

Digital Currencies: A blessing or a curse?

By: Judith Ratcliffe

Talk Summary: These 5 key questions will be explored: (1) What are Digital Currencies and how does it seem they would work? (2) What technology seems to be proposed to underpin Digital Currencies and why is that problematic from a Privacy perspective?/ How could that cause you harm? (including why so-called Privacy-enhancing technology doesn’t (at the moment) seem to enhance or even protect Privacy at all) (3) How are they proposing to authenticate you and what Privacy issues may that cause? How does the Law seem to have been fundamentally misinterpreted by those who wish to create digital currencies? What less-Privacy-intrusive authentication measures should they (arguably) be proposing instead? (4) Privacy Problems with using ‘middle men’, rather than running everything from the Central Bank, with using Automation, Aliases and Quantum Computing (5) Wider issues around taking away your fundamental Rights, fraud, financial crime, identity theft and hacking.

Additional resources can be found in the YouTube video and here.

Published: July 2023

By: Ben Anderson, Founder of Feeling Social who deliver accredited digital first mental health first aid training for workplaces, charities and youth practitioners in the UK

Talk Summary: The video looks at the topic of money and mental health through a slightly different lens - one in which is sometimes overlooked - the role that social class and social equality and the disparities of support and increased risk factors that exist across several different systems within the UK. Money and your socioeconomic standing can dictate the level of care you receive or even whether you have access to care. Money can also influence whether you are given medication over therapy. And Social class and equality - in particular Systemic racism can influence several risk factors in a young persons life - which could lead to an increased risk of experiencing a mental health crisis. www.feelingsocial.org

Published: July 2023

Mental health and the benefits process

Mind, the mental health charity.

Claiming benefits

Published: April 2022

Money and mental health in India during the Covid-19 pandemic in comparison with the United Kingdom and Israel

By: Dr Meenakshi Shukla, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, India.

Talk Summary: This presentation discusses the status of mental health in India, highlighting the lack of awareness and financial preparedness. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health issues in the country, with a significant increase in mental health problems and suicide rates. The presentation emphasizes the need for comprehensive mental health services and national legislation, as well as the scarcity of mental health professionals. It also explores the complex relationship between mental health and poverty, which further worsens the situation. Our study conducted during the pandemic reveals that financial worries were among the top concerns for adolescents and young adults in India, Israel, and the UK, with some variations based on the countries' economic conditions and cultural differences.

Published: July 2023

Dr Shukla is also a DIMH2023 Panellist on 20th July for the Live Session called: A Research Perspective: Money & Mental Health

Dr Shukla has also kindly provided additional resources about mental health in India as this is one of the countries in the spotlight.

There is a huge economic cost to support those experiencing mental illness and needing support in Canada, even more so than diabetes and heart disease. It is costly and it is also connected with physical health services. For example, emergency departments where people may go in crisis are extremely crowded and many people are also having trouble getting treatment because they don’t have a family doctor.

The artificial intelligence landscape is dynamic, with the potential to support health system activities in various ways — and that includes mental health care. We join Dr. Lydia Sequeira (Research Fellow, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Canada Health Infoway) and Maureen Abbott (Manager, Access to Quality Mental Health Services, Mental Health Commission of Canada) to explore different use cases for AI in mental health care, benefits and challenges, and practical resources. 

Canada is in the spotlight this year for DIMH2023 and we are sharing videos and content related to mental health in Canada. See more here

Money and Mental Health webinar exploring new research on how our ethnicity can impact our experiences of money and mental health.

By: Money and Mental Health Policy Institute

Published: May 2023

Event catch-up: ethnicity, money and mental health

Summary: The research highlighted that people from minoritised ethnic groups face disproportionate challenges in terms of economic and social determinants that contribute to poor mental health. The event identified potential policy solutions to address the inequalities faced by minoritised ethnic groups, emphasising the need for a universal and concerted effort. Personal experiences shared during the event underscored the stigma surrounding mental health and the additional barriers faced by people from minoritised ethnic groups, highlighting the importance of cultural inclusion in support services.

Breaking Barriers: The Impact of Socioeconomic Factors on Neurodiversity

By: Anirudha Bhadoria, Research Impact Officer, Independent Researcher, Learner

Talk Summary: The talk delves into the concept of neurodiversity, which advocates for the acceptance and support of individuals with neurological differences. It explores the profound impact of financial factors on the diagnosis of neurodiverse conditions, encompassing the high costs associated with assessments and the limited availability of specialized care. Moreover, the presentation highlights how healthcare disparities stemming from socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity contribute to delayed or missed diagnoses. The financial constraints faced by individuals, coupled with limited accommodations and support, not only impede the diagnosis process but also have a significant impact on their mental well-being. Additionally, the presentation addresses the lack of information, cultural beliefs, language barriers, and stigma as significant obstacles to accurate diagnosis. To overcome these challenges, the presentation offers practical recommendations, including enhancing healthcare accessibility through outreach programs, leveraging telemedicine, and advocating for policy changes. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration, empowerment, and education to foster understanding and support for individuals with neurodiverse conditions.

Published: July 2023

#SetUpToFail

Find out more: “The Universal Credit system sets people up to fail: here’s how we’re making a difference”

By: Rachel Fergusson, Money and Mental Health Policy Institute

Published: April 2023

When savvy isn't enough

Dr Omar Dabash

Talk Summary: Omar briefly discusses the broad ideas that lie at the intersection of money psychology, technology, and systems-level thinking. He posits that there is somewhere between individual responsibility and blaming the environment when it comes to finances.

Published: July 2023

How "money envy" can harm your mental health and even put you in debt

CBC news story published on YouTube 12 July 2023.

Based on NerdWallet Survey: 54% Who Feel Money Envy Say It Harms Their Mental Health

“Nearly 3 in 5 Americans have felt envious of someone else's financial situation, and 65% believe social media has increased overspending.”

By: Erin El Issa.

Published July 2023

Written Content

Central bank interest rate decisions, household indebtedness, and psychiatric morbidity and distress: Evidence from the UK

“Central banks set economy-wide interest rates to meet exclusively economic objectives. There is a strong link between indebtedness and psychiatric morbidity at the individual level, with interest rates being an important factor determining ability to repay debt. However, no prior research has explored whether central bank interest rate changes directly influence mental health, nor whether this varies by levels of indebtedness.  When interest rates are high (low) there is an increased (decreased) risk of psychiatric morbidity only among those with a high debt burden. This result was robust to alternative explanations. Thus a 1 percentage point base-rate increase is associated with a 2.6% increase that someone with a high debt burden will experience psychiatric morbidity. Changes in central bank interest rates to meet economic objectives pose a threat to mental health. Mental health support is needed for those in debt and central banks may need to consider how their decisions influence population mental health.”

By: Boyce et al., 2018, J Affect Disord.

COVID-19-related financial strain and adolescent mental health

“The financial effects of COVID-19 (and worldwide responses to it) have taken a significant toll on youth mental health. In families that lost wages, youth-reported financial stress and familial factors mediated the relationship between wage loss and mental health over time. Findings highlight financial stress as a key driver of youth mental health burden and identify familial factors as critical targets for intervention to mitigate mental health risks in periods of economic crises.”

By: Argabright et al., 2022, The Lancet Regional Health.

The Impact of Economic Recessions on Depression, Anxiety, and Trauma-Related Disorders and Illness Outcomes—A Scoping Review

“Results suggest that existing models for mental health support and strategies for suicide prevention may be less effective than they are in non-recession times. It may be prudent to focus public education and medical treatments on raising awareness and access to supports for populations at higher risk, including those vulnerable to the impacts of job or income loss due to low socioeconomic status preceding the recession or high levels of financial strain, those supporting others financially, approaching retirement, and those in countries with limited social safety nets. Policy makers should be aware of the potential protective nature of unemployment safeguards and labour program investment in mitigating these negative impacts. Limited or inconclusive data were found on the relationship with traumatic disorders and symptoms of anxiety. In addition, research has focused primarily on the working-age adult population with limited data available on children, adolescents, and older adults, leaving room for further research in these areas.”

By: Guerra & Eboreime, 2021, Behav Sci (Basel).

Cerebral admits to sharing patient data with Meta, TikTok, and Google

The mental health startup says it exposed patient names, birth dates, insurance information, and their responses to mental health self-evaluations.

By: Emma Roth, The Verge

Published: March 2023

Pear Therapeutics assets sold for $6M at auction after bankruptcy

By: Jessica Hagen, MobiHealthNews

Published: May 2023

The Impact of Monetary Poverty Alleviation Programs on Children’s and Adolescents’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Across Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries

“This study provides evidence that monetary interventions reduce the internalizing symptoms of adolescents experiencing poverty. However, conditional interventions may be associated with negative outcomes for girls, and monetary support alone may not be sufficient in extreme risk settings.”

By: Zaneva et al., 2022, Journal of Adolescent Health.

Role of cash in conditional cash transfer programmes for child health, growth, and development: an analysis of Mexico's Oportunidades

“Many governments have implemented conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes with the goal of improving options for poor families through interventions in health, nutrition, and education. Families enrolled in CCT programmes receive cash in exchange for complying with certain conditions: preventive health requirements and nutrition supplementation, education, and monitoring designed to improve health outcomes and promote positive behaviour change. Our aim was to disaggregate the effects of cash transfer from those of other programme components. Our results suggest that the cash transfer component of Oportunidades is associated with better outcomes in child health, growth, and development.”

By: Fernald et al., 2008, The Lancet.

Cost-effectiveness evidence of mental health prevention and promotion interventions: A systematic review of economic evaluations

“The prevention of mental disorders and promotion of mental health and well-being are growing fields. Whether mental health promotion and prevention interventions provide value for money in children, adolescents, adults, and older adults is unclear. The aim of the current study is to update 2 existing reviews of cost-effectiveness studies in this field in order to determine whether such interventions are cost-effective. Our review found a significant growth of economic evaluations in prevention of mental disorders or promotion of mental health and well-being over the last 10 years. Although several interventions for mental health prevention and promotion provide good value for money, the varied quality as well as methodologies used in economic evaluations limit the generalisability of conclusions about cost-effectiveness. However, the finding that the majority of studies especially in children, adolescents, and adults demonstrated good value for money is promising. Research on cost-effectiveness in low-middle income settings is required.”

By: Long Khanh-Dao Le et al., 2021, PLOS Medicine 

International funding for mental health: a review of the last decade

“Mental health represents one of the most significant and increasing burdens to global public health. Over the past decade, the once invisible field has gained recognition on the global health agenda and this increased recognition is expected to increase international funding for mental health. Our review found that few studies have been conducted as to the level of international funding for mental health and there is a need for a differentiated assessment. We conducted such an assessment of global development-related assistance for mental health between 2006 and 2016 and established categories to serve as a baseline for future measurement. We found that development assistance specifically dedicated to mental health accounted for just 0.3% of all development assistance for health. Given the limited public expenditure on mental health by national governments in low- and middle-income countries, renewed efforts by the international community and development partners to substantially increase funding for mental health are critical.”

By: Liese et al., 2019, Int Health

“Money Doesn't Buy You Happiness”: Negative Consequences of Using the Freemium Model for Mental Health Apps

“As global rates of anxiety and depression increase, we observe millions of downloads of mobile apps addressing mental health that adopt ‘freemium’ charging models offering complex combinations of free and paid features. We explore potentially negative outcomes of deploying such freemium designs to vulnerable MH populations. We assess outcomes for 41 frequently downloaded mental health apps, by combining thematic analysis of 41K user reviews with audits to validate app descriptions and reviews. We propose a new analytic framework identifying three types of negative outcomes for freemium deployments: first vulnerable users currently experiencing crises may feel pressure to download unhelpful or costly apps. Second unintuitive descriptions of complex apps can lead to inappropriate treatments and expensive subscriptions. Third, limited duration offers may result in incomplete treatments or unexpected charges. We discuss ethical considerations and broader HCI consequences. We describe implications for mental health app design, including the need for greater transparency around free versus paid features, and propose new approaches to provide vulnerable users with validated information about these commonly downloaded apps.”

By: Eagle et al., 2022, PACM on Human-Computer Interaction

The Acceptability and Initial Effectiveness of “Space From Money Worries”: An Online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Intervention to Tackle the Link Between Financial Difficulties and Poor Mental Health

“Background: Previous research has shown a strong relationship between financial difficulties and mental health problems. Psychological factors such as hope and worry about finances appear to be an important factor in this relationship. Objective: To develop an online based psychological intervention (Space from Money Worries) to tackle the psychological mechanisms underlying the relationship between poor mental health and financial difficulties, and to conduct an initial evaluation of the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the intervention. Materials and Methods: 30 participants accessing Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services completed GAD-7 to measure anxiety and PHQ-9 to measure depression upon signing up to the online intervention and again 4 to 8 weeks after this. Participants also completed a measure of perceived financial distress/wellbeing and a “Money and Mental Health Scale” constructed for the evaluation. Results: Overall, 77% (n = 23) completed the intervention and follow-up assessments. Intent to Treat Analysis showed that there were statistically significant improvements in symptoms of depression, anxiety, improved perceived financial wellbeing and reduced scores on the money and mental health scale. The vast majority of participants rated each module positively. Conclusions: Space from Money Worries appears to be acceptable and may lead to improvements in mental health, perceived financial wellbeing and a reduced relationship between financial difficulties and poor mental health. However, future research with a larger sample and a control group are needed to confirm that these changes are due to the intervention.”

By: Richardson et al., 2022, Frontiers in Public Health

Fintech for Psychological and Financial Resilience: Determinants of Financial Data Sharing Behavior for Individuals with Bipolar Disorder

“Financial stability is a key challenge for individuals with bipolar disorder, a serious mental illness requiring life-long management. Symptomatic periods often lead to poor financial decision-making, including compulsive spending and risky behaviors. Widespread consumer adoption of financial technologies ("fintech") has accelerated in recent years, with numerous consumer-centric applications providing insight into personal financial behavior in exchange for access to financial data. We believe these technologies can be applied to meaningfully support individual resilience in this population and, potentially, the resilience of families and surrounding networks of care. However, little is known about this population's unique perspectives, expectations, or privacy preferences related to financial data sharing for these purposes. To this end, we deployed an online survey (N=480) to assess the privacy expectations of individuals with bipolar disorder surrounding the use of financial data as an early-warning indicator of symptoms. A factorial vignette design allowed us to vary vignette dimensions across the granularity of financial data types, context of potential data use, and recipient of data insights. This exploratory analysis demonstrates that individuals are most comfortable sharing financial data when they were the only party to receive algorithmically-generated insights, while factors such as context of use and granularity of data types were less significant. Individuals who were most willing to engage creditors or other financial technologies for assistance were significantly more willing to share with family members and clinicians.”

By: Brozena et al., Submitted: 27 Jun 2023.

National Snapshot: Poverty among women and families

"Women and especially women of color still faced disproportionate poverty and hardship. In 2021, over one in nine women—or nearly 15.3 million—lived in poverty. Poverty rates using the official poverty measure (OPM) were much higher for disabled women, Black, Latinx, and Native women, those born outside of the United States, and families with children headed by a single woman. Unlike people ages 18–64 and children, women ages 65 and older experienced deepened poverty in 2021."

By Shengwei Sun, National Women’s Law Centre, USA.

Published: January 2023

Global Trends Forced Displacement in 2022

“UNHCR's Global Trends report presents key statistical trends and the latest official statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people worldwide. At the end of 2022, 108.4 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order.”

The long-term financial and psychological resettlement outcomes of pre-migration trauma and post-settlement difficulties in resettled refugees

“These results illustrate that trauma focused interventions may be insufficient on their own for assisting resettled refugees in this context. As such, our findings highlight the crucial importance of early identification and responsiveness to the variety of initial difficulties, such as language and housing problems, that may be experienced by resettled refugees to mitigate against subsequent psychological and financial difficulties in the long-term.”

By: O’Donnell et al., 2020, Social Science & Medicine.

Social disadvantage, genetic sensitivity, and children’s telomere length

“This paper makes two contributions to research on the link between the social environment and health. Using data from a birth cohort study, we show that, among African American boys, those who grow up in highly disadvantaged environments have shorter telomeres (at age 9) than boys who grow up in highly advantaged environments. We also find that the association between the social environment and telomere length (TL) is moderated by genetic variation within the serotonin and dopamine pathways. Boys with the highest genetic sensitivity scores had the shortest TL when exposed to disadvantaged environments and the longest TL when exposed to advantaged environments. To our knowledge, this report is the first to document a gene–social environment interaction for TL, a biomarker of stress exposure.”

By: Mitchell et al., 2014, PNAS. 

Family income, parental education and brain structure in children and adolescents

“Socioeconomic disparities are associated with differences in cognitive development. The extent to which this translates to disparities in brain structure is unclear. We investigated relationships between socioeconomic factors and brain morphometry, independently of genetic ancestry, among a cohort of 1,099 typically developing individuals between 3 and 20 years of age. Income was logarithmically associated with brain surface area. Among children from lower income families, small differences in income were associated with relatively large differences in surface area, whereas, among children from higher income families, similar income increments were associated with smaller differences in surface area. These relationships were most prominent in regions supporting language, reading, executive functions and spatial skills; surface area mediated socioeconomic differences in certain neurocognitive abilities. These data imply that income relates most strongly to brain structure among the most disadvantaged children.”

By: Knoble et al., 2015, Nature Neuroscience.

Protective factors for youth confronting economic hardship: Current challenges and future avenues in resilience research.

“This article has 3 aims. First, we consider the evolving psychobiological literature on protective factors and conclude that supportive relationships can mitigate against the physical health problems often associated with economic hardship. Second, we discuss recent empirical developments in health psychology, public health, and the biological sciences, which reveal trade-offs associated with adaptation and challenge the conception of what it means to be resilient. Finally, we outline a research agenda that attempts to integrate existing knowledge on health disparities with these newer challenges to inform both policy and practice for youth experiencing economic hardship.”

By: Hostinar et al., 2019, American Psychologist.

Poverty and debt driving young women to self-harm – survey

Poverty and debt driving young women to self-harm – survey

By: Denis Campbell Health, policy editor

Published: 26 May 2020, Guardian newspaper.

“Young women are being driven to self-harm as a result of poverty, debt and their struggles to pay household bills, research shows. Women aged 16-34 from the poorest backgrounds are five times more likely to harm themselves than those from the most well-off families, according to the study by NatCen Social Research. Its findings, released by the charity Agenda, show a close association between wealth and mental ill-health, and show that young women in poverty are much more likely to suffer psychologically.”

Improving insights into health care with data linkage to financial technology

“This Comment is a call to action for financial technology providers, health-care professionals, and research scientists to work together to better represent the complementary nature of health care and finance in real world and research settings. We argue that a better understanding of individuals' financial data could help health-care professionals improve care, and that linkage to information about mental and physical health could create more holistic financial support systems.”

By: Inkster et al., 2019, Lancet Digital Health.

Building the future of financial healthcare technology practices

“Given the demands for services that intersect financial health and well-being, and that people are increasingly operationalizing their digital footprints, we argue for the co-evolution of healthcare practices and financial technology. Innovation bridged across finance, health and technology could inform new practice/operating models, whilst fostering environments that value and prioritize health, financial stability and individual privacy.”

By: Inkster et al, 2020. Preprint DIO 10.31234/osf.io/jqm45

Financial technologies (FinTech) for mental health: The potential of objective financial data to better understand the relationships between financial behavior and mental health

“Financial stability is a key challenge for individuals with mental illnesses. Symptomatic periods often manifest in poor financial decision-making including compulsive spending and risky behaviors. This article explores research opportunities and challenges in developing financial technologies (FinTech) to support individuals with mental health. Specifically, we focus on how objective financial data might lead to novel mental health assessment and intervention methods. We have used data from one individual with bipolar disorder (i.e., an N=1 case study) to illustrate feasibility of collecting and analyzing objective financial data alongside mental health factors. While we have not found statistically significant trends nor our findings are generalizable beyond this case, our approach provides an insight into the potential of using objective financial data to identify early warning signs and thereby, enable preemptive care for individuals with serious mental illnesses. We have also identified challenges of accessing objective financial data. The paper outlines what data is currently available, what can be done with it, and what factors to consider when working with financial data. We have also explored future directions for developing interventions to support financial wellbeing and stability. Furthermore, we have described the technical, ethical, and equity challenges for financial data-driven assessments and intervention methods, as well as provided a broad research agenda to address these challenges.”

By: Blair et al., Submitted 9 January, 2023

Finland’s Most-Wanted Hacker Nabbed in France

By: Krebs on Security

Published: February 2023

Hacked Finnish psychotherapy service provider declared bankrupt

By: Finland Times

Published: February 2021

Mental health: Unqualified therapists exploiting vulnerable patients

By Jordan Dunbar and Anisa Subedar, UK Insight, BBC News

Published: February 2021