The mother who spent £25k in a day because she was bipolar

So why don’t banks help protect vulnerable patients like Lynn?

TRYING to fix a bad day by throwing money at it is familiar to more than a few of us. Comfort shopping — buying a new dress or booking a holiday, say — can give us a buzz and make things seem better.

But what if you have more bad days than other people because you have a mental health condition such as depression or bipolar disorder? What happens if your moods are a rollercoaster of highs and lows and you spend thousands of pounds during ‘manic’ spending sprees?

A report published yesterday by the charity Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) suggests that you’re up to six times more likely to have debt problems if you have a mental health issue such as depression.

The charity, founded by Martin Lewis of moneysavingexpert.com, describes the combination of money and mental illness as a ‘marriage made in hell’.

Lynn Hodges, 54, knows exactly what this means. The mother-of-three from Kent has bipolar disorder — characterised by periods of mania and depression — and has racked up £90,000-worth of debt since she became very ill in 2004. During one episode, she spent more than £25,000 in a day on diamonds — which she then flushed down the loo.

‘Before I got ill, I was a high-flier,’ she recalls. ‘I owned a presentation business that worked with companies like Christie’s and made more than £100,000 a year. I had a house in London and one in Kent and didn’t owe money to anyone.’

Then in 2004, Lynn’s relationship with her partner, the father of her children (now aged 15, 19 and 22), started to unravel and she took a sabbatical, moving the family to Spain to try to salvage things.

When this didn’t work, Lynn fell into a ‘black’ depression, and her sisters had to bring her and the children back to the UK.

While living with her sister Kay, 56, it became clear Lynn was worryingly ill.

‘First, I started piling electrical things like the TV remote into black bags and then I’d disappear all day — my sister thought I was working — but I was actually spending thousands of pounds shopping.

‘I spent £25,000 in one day on diamonds, and a campervan and Apple computers for my children because I had this idea that I was going to drive them around Europe and home-school them.

‘I was losing my mind. I bought diamond rings and watches because I wanted to feel like a diamond.’ BUT as she points out, despite the unusual spending, ‘not one of my banks thought to check whether something was wrong’.

When her family realised Lynn had become ‘psychotic’, they took her to the GP, who said she had to be hospitalised immediately — she was admitted to Littlebrook Hospital in Kent, which treats acute psychiatric illnesses.

Lynn’s sisters were told she had bipolar 1, the most severe form. She was given medication, including lithium, which she still takes. However, she continued to experience ‘dangerous’ manic phases — which included spending sprees — that lasted around three weeks, followed by depressions that could continue for up to five months and left her bed-bound and severely depressed.

Since her diagnosis, she has been hospitalised three times, for six weeks at a time. She has lost everything because of the strain her condition put on her finances. ‘All my wealth went like a deck of cards,’ she says. ‘I lost my business because I couldn’t work for nine months — I owe £30,000 to NatWest as a result of that and another £60,000 to my mortgage company. I lost both my houses.’

She feels ‘certain’ her children would have been taken into care if her sisters hadn’t been able to support her — but recognises that seeing her so ill has scarred them.

‘It was very scary for them because the only adult in their life was suddenly whisked off to hospital. My behaviour, my language, everything had completely changed.’

Half of British adults with a debt problem have a mental health problem and you can’t fix one without fixing the other, say experts.

Yesterday’s report found 86 per cent of those surveyed (who’d all lived with mental heath problems at some point) said their financial situation had made their mental health problems worse, while 72 per cent believed their mental health had made their financial situation worse.

More than 90 per cent said when they were ill, they spent more than they normally would.

The MMHPI suggests mental health patients should be able to ask their banks for a safety net to prevent bad financial decisions.

Their key recommendation is voluntary control measures, such as credit freezes that kick in if the bank notices spending sprees (similar to the way accounts are blocked if a bank suspects fraud). Only a trusted family member would be able to ‘unlock’ the account after checking the patient was back in control.

‘Thousands’ of the 5,500 people interviewed liked the idea of controls, according to the charity, which is backed by an advisory panel made up of doctors, psychiatrists and financial groups.

People with mental health issues experience financial difficulties before, during and after an episode, explains Dame Til Wykes, a professor of clinical psychology at King’s College London, who is advising the MMHPI.

‘People with depression may think they don’t have a future so may give away their worldly goods, or stop paying their mortgage because they can’t see past the next day or two.’

Those with bipolar may have different problems. ‘They may feel so happy when they are in a manic state that they want to give their money away to make others happy.

‘They may sign disadvantageous loan agreements or spend outrageously on goods they can’t afford. These decisions affect their whole life, their friendships and families.’ MARTIN LEWIS says: ‘Lots of people spend too much when they feel low, but when mental health is involved, you make very bad choices that make your condition worse.’

His hope is that within a decade, when someone gets a credit card, they could choose to mention they have, say, bipolar spending sprees — then the bank, without fuss, would simply say: ‘We’ve a number of control options you may like.’

The link between poor mental health and financial problems is an ‘unbelievable spiral’ that can lead Manic episodes: Lynn Hodges to unemployment and divorce as well as debt, says Dr Claudia Bernat, a consultant psychiatrist based in London.

‘But who are banks to decide if one of their customers is spending manically? Only a psychiatrist would be able to tell. It’s a bit like with old people making wills — how do we judge if someone really has capacity? It’s very difficult.’

However, Lee Brookes, 39, a former businessman from Cheadle, near Manchester, thinks this approach would be ‘fantastic’. Lee, who has bipolar disorder, says that during manic episodes he knew what he was doing ‘but my condition was the stronger decision maker’.

‘I got such an elated feeling when I was spending, such an emotional high. I was putting on a front, trying to appear wealthy and I’d buy expensive things or go away for the weekend and spend money I didn’t have.

‘I once spent thousands in Paris on I don’t even know what.’

These highs were always followed by extreme lows — ‘it would start with an anxious feeling where I’d ask myself what I’d done, then it would turn to depression when I realised how long and hard I’d have to work to get the money back.’

Lee owned two IT and software businesses, but had to close them when he realised how ill he was. He declared himself bankrupt in 2014 with debts of more than £30,000.

As well as taking medication, he’s now having cognitive behavioural therapy — a talking therapy which aims to adjust the way you think and behave — and is waiting for treatment at an eating disorder clinic.

Lynn is also backing the MMHPI campaign. With her family now knowing the warning signs, she is more in control of her condition and is training universities how to support people with bipolar disorder.

‘Mental illness rips right through the middle of any family — without my sisters I would never have survived. But some aren’t as lucky as me and need even more help.’

LiVinG With Bipolar Disorder: Strategies For Balance And Resilience by Lynn hodges (Findhorn Press) on Amazon.