Case notes
happiness while another harbours great feelings of guilt about materialism. I have also seen it in the creative professions where the relationship with money is full of ambivalence – while selling art is what de fi nes you as a ‘professional artist’, its pursuit seems to be contrary to the idea that art should be made for art’s sake. Freud believed that those overly preoccupied with frugality were repressing desires to do the opposite – let go and indulge, be messy, reckless and wasteful – the defence he called ‘reaction formation’. 4 The same
provides temporary relief to an inner sense of guilt, as it allows one to receive what might feel well-deserved punishment. Taboo Freud’s belief that ‘money matters are treated by civilised people in the same way as sexual matters – with the same inconsistency, prudishness and hypocrisy’ 1 still has relevance today. In a 2019 UK survey half the respondents said that talking about personal money matters is more taboo in everyday conversation than sex, religion and
politics. 2 Clients are often reluctant to talk about money and may preface references to it with ‘I don’t want to sound super fi cial’ or ‘Sorry to bring up money when we’re here to talk about feelings’. It was also Freud who referred to money as ‘ fi lthy lucre’, 3 highlighting how for many it feels like a ‘dirty pursuit’. In my practice I have often seen this in people who grew up in families with strong anti-capitalistic views, and who as adults fi nd themselves struggling with an internal con fl ict when a part of them sees the pursuit of money as an enabler of
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THERAPY TODAY
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