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Concerns about money, relationships and health top people’s worries for 2009

Written by Administrator
Thursday, 10 December 2009 00:00

Samaritans urges people to not let their worries spiral out of control and to seek support for emotional distress this Christmas and during the coming year   Nearly half the UK population (48%) has worried this year about debt and money, according to a survey published today by Samaritans and YouGov, with almost a quarter of people (23%) describing 2009 as a bad year or their worst year ever.

Samaritans urges people to not let their worries spiral out of control and to seek support for emotional distress this Christmas and during the coming year.

Nearly half the UK population (48%) has worried this year about debt and money, according to a survey published today by Samaritans and YouGov, with almost a quarter of people (23%) describing 2009 as a bad year or their worst year ever.

The poll of more than 2,000 people asked the public to identify their five biggest worries over the past year. After money, other top-five sources of anxiety were problems in relationships with family and friends (reported by 35% of people) and physical health concerns (32%), followed by fears over job security (24%) and workplace stress (24%).

Other key findings were:

- loneliness is one of the top worries amongst 21% of young people (aged 18-24) compared to only 8% of older people (aged 55 plus);

- more women (25%) have worried about their appearance or ageing than men (18%);

- 10% of men worry about sport and how their favourite team is doing compared to 1% of women;

- people have been more worried about domestic politics (24%) and world affairs (23%) than about what is happening in their own neighbourhood (8%); over twice as many women (23%) have worried about their ability to cope emotionally with life than men (11%);

- while 23% of people described 2009 as a bad year, for 18% 2009 was a good year; 41% thought the year had been both good and bad, featuring ups and downs.

Samaritans’ Chief Executive Catherine Johnstone said: "In the last year, Samaritans received five million calls and many of them were about the worries identified in this survey, with approximately one in every ten calls linked to financial stress.

If people don’t talk about their problems, they can build up over time and spiral into more serious emotional distress. Sharing your troubles can be a huge relief and is often the first step to finding a way of coping with the challenges that life throws at all of us. Samaritans’ trained volunteers are available 24/7 to offer confidential support to anyone feeling anxious, unhappy or distressed this Christmas and throughout the coming year."

A full national and regional breakdown of the survey can be found here: www.samaritans.org