Harvard Psychologist Says Money Apparently Makes Wealthy People's Lives Worse In An Odd Way
My Agency | ShutterstockWhen you’re living an average paycheck-to-paycheck life, it’s easy to look at those who have more money than you and think they must have it all, but that’s not always true.
David H. Rosmarin, PhD, a clinical psychologist who teaches at Harvard Medical School, once worked with wealthy clients on a daily basis, and he noticed that they weren’t quite as satisfied as you might expect. He’s come to believe that having more money is actually bad for people in a surprising way.
Dr. Rosmarin repeatedly observed his patients’ money making their mental health worse.
In an essay for Time Magazine, he explained that money can be a tricky factor because it is helpful in many ways. People who have more money are usually less stressed about how they’re going to pay their bills, which is a good thing. But there’s also a dark side to it.
He described his previous work as “providing concierge mental-health services to some of the wealthiest individuals and families around the world,” which sounds like a nice job. Dr. Rosmarin said it was actually pretty difficult, though, because these people’s relationships were seriously affected by their money, usually in a way that left them feeling lonely.
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For example, a set of wealthy parents that he worked with spent nearly $1 million paying off their son’s gambling debts. They thought they were acting out of love, but throwing money at the problem prevented them from addressing what was actually causing it in the first place, which eventually led to estrangement.
Dr. Rosmarin also worked with a college sophomore who turned to her wealthy family for help when she began to feel depressed. Instead of responding with compassion, her parents told her she should feel lucky to be so privileged. She continued to deteriorate while feeling like she was in a “gilded cage.”
Money can easily get in the way of people forming connections, which is essential to everyone’s mental health.
When someone feels close to the people in their life, they’re less likely to develop anxiety and depression, as well as physical conditions like heart disease and stroke. The Harvard Study of Adult Development, which Dr. Rosmarin cited himself, found that social connections lead to longevity and happiness in a way that other things just don’t.
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Dr. Rosmarin said that, although money can make a lot of things easier, it can’t mend broken relationships. In fact, it often makes them worse because family members don’t have to spend as much time working together to overcome challenges when they can simply write a check instead.
“Money can create extraordinary opportunities and alleviate tremendous stress,” he admitted. “But it cannot substitute for honesty, vulnerability, accountability, or love. Those remain the foundations of psychological well-being, regardless of how many dollars are in your bank account.”
Dr. Rosmarin’s thoughts may understandably feel a bit out of touch to anyone on the opposite side of the financial spectrum.
If you’re anything like me, you’re reading this information and thinking, “That’s great for a family who doesn’t have to struggle financially, but more money would actually help me a lot.” Research shows that there’s truth in that perspective.
We’ve all been told from the time we were old enough to understand what money was that having more of it doesn’t make people happier, but a study published in Happiness Science in 2024 concluded that rich people really do feel happier. A similar study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from 2023 refuted a previous claim that people’s happiness doesn’t increase when they earn more.
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Money isn’t the most important thing in the world, and if you act like it is, you’ll lose sight of what truly matters. However, the more money you have, the more access you have to quality healthcare, nice living conditions, and sometimes even a flexible work schedule. That’s not meaningless.
Dr. Rosmarin has a point for the wealthiest people in the world who have so much money that it actually works against them, but it probably doesn’t hold true for those who are worried about where their next meal will come from, which is an important distinction.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
