Whether it comes from maxed-out credit cards or suffocating student loans, millennials are carrying more debt than ever. A new survey by addiction treatment center YellowBrick shows that two-thirds of young adults bear the burden of long-term debt at a cost that can be difficult to calculate—depression, anxiety, shame, migraines, the inability to buy a home or tie the knot. Here, according to the survey, is what carrying debt can really cost you.
Those millions of people, the survey says, suffer serious anxiety over paying their debts off—and many fear they'll never pay them down in full. While 54 percent of millennials older than 30 worry about repaying their student loans, a full 34 percent doubt they'll be able to despite the fact they earn $75,000 or more each year. And people who struggle to pay off their debts are twice as likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, and are three times more likely to be diagnosed with other mental illnesses. By comparison, fewer than 9 percent of people without debt suffer from mental illness, the survey shows.
But the health heartaches don't stop there: 27 percent of people with high debts report having ulcers and 44 percent have frequent migraines or headaches, while they're twice as likely to suffer from a heart attack.
Carrying debt has life-goal consequences too. Of those who carry credit card or student loan debts, 75 percent say their debts have affected their ability to buy a home, while 43 percent say it's delayed them starting a family and 29 percent it's stopped them from getting hitched.
If you carry debt, have your experienced any of these additional costs?