The Over-spending Problem: How Winning Your North Carolina Social Security Disability Case Can Backfire

August 31, 2011, by Michael A. DeMayo

You and your family are in a tough battle to obtain a fair and just North Carolina Social Security Disability settlement. You need SSD money to live, recover, and pay for medical treatments. And the battle for these funds can be vicious, scary, full of setbacks (and missed opportunities), and quite complicated. Even if an effective and thorough North Carolina Social Security Disability law firm helps you, you will still encounter myriad challenges – some of which you don’t even expect to encounter right now.

To prepare best, you need to focus on great outcomes, but also to anticipate traps and possible problems.

One of the key problems that SSD beneficiaries encounter is the over-spending problem.

Basically, some beneficiaries treat their benefits like a cash windfall – like they won the lottery. They adjust their spending levels accordingly to their great detriment. SSD money was designed to be a safety net – a last-ditch effort to help stabilize the finances of someone in desperate need because of medical problems. It’s easy to condemn people who fall victim to the over-spending problem. You can already hear cries from hardcore libertarians to the effect of “look at all of those lazy people on North Carolina Social Security Disability who use their checks to buy Prada handbags and splurge on vacations. How dare they?” The rejoinder is: “Well, easy for you to say, if you are not in that situation.”

People who have been hurt, or are sick, overwhelmed, and scared by other problems often resort to less-than-resourceful tactics and strategies to cope with their situations. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the people who have the over-spending problem are weak-willed or stupid or unaware of the consequences. This simply means that their energies may not be directed appropriately, or they might not have the knowledge, skills, and support to handle the influx of cash.

What’s the Solution?

Part of the solution involves recognizing the problem and finding people, resources, tools, and education to help “dig you out.” On a more philosophical level, you might also want to practice self-forgiveness and self-compassion. Cutting-edge research in a variety of fields, including addiction and obesity, suggests that problems people typically blame themselves for – drinking too much alcohol and eating too much food, for instance – may stem not from a lack of willpower but from misguided attempts to empower and take back control.

For instance, Harvard psychiatrist Lance Dodes has posited that addicts engaged in destructive addictive behaviors are simply trying to empower themselves after feeling helpless. And science journalist Gary Taubes has hypothesized that obese people get fat not because they overeat but because they suffer hormonal damage to their fat tissue, not due to a weak will.

More Web Resources:

Cause of Over Spending?

Dodes addiction