Today, Shabnam explores another side of ’retail therapy’ and what spending behaviours can tell us about our clients’ underlying motivations and needs. She suggests how psychological approaches such as Compassion-Focused Therapy can help perceive anxieties that may lie beneath the surface gratification, and offers tips for professionals working in the Personal Injury field.

For Shabnam’s list of 14 spending questions, please refer to the transcript of episode 8.

Keywords:

money, clients, spending, trauma, injury, compassion-focussed therapy, rules, family members, litigation, threat, drive, trigger, behaviour, choices, motivation, avoidance, distress, underlying emotions and beliefs, self-esteem, conflict, overspending, underspending, compulsive spending, avoiders, rulers, getters, pleasers, controllers, spending, saving, risk-taking, risk avoidance, generalist, particularist, impulsive, reflective, change-adaptive, change-avoidant, anxiety, irrational behaviour, psychology, relationships, groundrules, discomfort

1:00 How money issues can affect your client relationship

2:45 Research around money

9:16 Exercise about spending

14:50 The personal injury context

17:53 How psychology can help – Compassion-Focused Therapy

21:26 Shabnam’s tips

Quotes:

2:45 “The issue of money is actually a common clinical and professional problem.”

3:08 “Money can be used to understand underlying psychological motivations and needs.”

4:40 “People would rather talk about their sex lives than share their financial data!”

22:34 “Dopamine hits mask anxiety and fears, which is what our clients and their families will inevitably be experiencing.”

Presenter: Dr Shabnam Berry-Khan, Director of PsychWorks Associates

Editor: Emily Crosby Media