The Head in the Sand Mentality, A Maryland Bankruptcy Attorney’s Perspective

While our clients leave feeling happy with the outcomes, none of them come to us happy with the situation they are in.  Depression amongst our bankruptcy clients is one of the biggest obstacles that we, as counselors have to overcome.

Depression can be debilitating for many.  Problems become too big to confront and are thus avoided.  I call this, the “head in the sand mentality.”  They avoid answering the phone, avoid balancing a checkbook, avoid opening mail.  If I had a dollar for every unopened letter from a debt collector that had been dumped on my desk by a client grateful to not have to deal with this problem anymore, well let’s just say that it was a pretty common occurrence and I’d have a lot more money than I do right now.

The tragedy of this is the pain that could have been avoided with early assistance.  When one or both parties to a relationship keep ignoring problems, they tend to build, and it tends to drive a wedge into a relationship.  Quite a number of clients have come to see as a last step before divorce.  Garnishments that could have been stopped before they started with proper intervention cause a father to miss a car note or a mother forced to choose between putting food on the table and keeping the lights on.  What often happens though is that more debt is used to paper over a failing financial position.  Credit cards are paid with other credit cards.  Cash advances are taken to cover bills, causing necessary delays in any bankruptcy filing to ensure that the maximum discharge can be achieved.

Are you behind on your bills and ready to bury your head in the sand?  If you’re anywhere in Maryland, before you try to comfortably ignore the rising problems, give me a call and let’s see if we can’t deal with them heads up.

We are the Grafton Firm.  We are Maryland Bankruptcy Attorneys.  We are here to help.