Did you know that recovery exists even in the financial world? No, that doesn’t mean your portfolio will suddenly triple in size or that your 401K will allow you to retire early! Many people find when they are in recovery for an addiction, that addiction often makes a radical turn to a new and undiscovered area of life. At Relationship Recovery Center it is our job to watch for co-occurring addictions. One of those areas is money and work! Those two subjects touch most of us reading this blog! What are money and work issues, you ask, and how do I know if I have them? Does money trigger various kinds of emotion in you? Does the lack of it cause you to be anxious? Does a big bonus check make you feel high?
I once heard a wise man say that more divorces are caused by money issues than by infidelity! We all have a relationship with money much like we have a relationship with people! You may never have thought about it that way, but its true. Your relationship with money started long ago in your early childhood years. Your relationship with money may be just like your parents’ relationship with money. Or, it may be the complete opposite of what you saw at home because of the adverse effects it had on you at an early age. Whichever it is, it is impacting you today.
It may be that you are very stingy with yourself when it comes to money. Somehow you were left with a “spirit of deprivation” and you do not feel worthy to spend on yourself. Or, you experience panic attacks every time you open the mailbox and see a stack of envelopes that can only be bills that need to be paid. And if one of those envelopes has the return address of the IRS on it, watch out, because you will have a total melt down!
These are all questions that can be addressed by contacting the CMATS at Relationship Recovery Center. 
CMAT means Certified Multiple Addictions Therapist. We have diagnostic testing materials designed to get at the root of money and work addictions that can help you determine how it plays a part in your life. It may be the very thing keeping you stuck in a place where you cannot experience joy and freedom in your financial world!
By Cindy Martin, LMFT, CSAT, CMAT, EMDR I&II