Citation :
I’m Rich, and That Makes Me Anxious
The psychology of wealth is knotty. On the surface, being wealthy can make people believe they have more control over their lives, but it can also control them emotionally.
“If someone doesn’t have that money growing up, it’s like being shot through with too much energy,” she said. “There’s this undercurrent that money equals love, power, security, control, self-worth, self-love, freedom, self-esteem — all those loaded things that money supposedly can do, but doesn’t.”
There is a degree of fear. “People are afraid of the money, how it might corrupt them, or make them insensitive to other people’s plights,” Ms. Mellan said. “They worry about their kids having so much money thrown at them that they will not be motivated to work for money and have a meaningful life.”
This is easy to understand if you think about the stereotypes that society generally has about the rich, he added. “If you grow up hearing money messages like rich people only care about themselves or other negative beliefs about the wealthy and then you become wealthy yourself, how are you going to reconcile what you believed about those people with the fact that now you are one of them?”
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