Using Insights from Clinical Psychology to Promote Goal Progress in Debtors.

尽管个人债务在我们的社会中是一个日益严重的问题，但对债务的心理理解和对该问题的干预仍然难以捉摸。本项目为这个问题提供了一种新的解决方案，方法是利用强迫症患者的洞察力，他们以过度监控而闻名(例如，“我关掉烤箱了吗？”)，并将其应用于避免监控他们的财务状况(例如，忽略信用卡账单)的债务人。这项研究建立在我最近获得的博士学位和6篇同行评议论文的基础上，这些论文考察了为什么强迫症患者监控他们的想法和行为的原因。简单地说，我证明了那些患有强迫症的人注意力不集中，这导致他们寻找不存在的东西，即过度监控。此外，在《临床心理学评论》一书中，我确凿地证明了这一点：“寻找不存在的东西”解释了一系列实验结果，直到我的论文在文献中被描述为相互矛盾的。因此，在这笔赠款期间，我将利用我在强迫症方面的监测知识，并将其应用于那些避免监测其债务的人。我将在实验室环境中进行这项工作，在那里我将研究哪些认知因素可以解释债务人未能充分监控其债务的原因，然后利用这些信息为债务人的手机设计一种名为“管理您的债务申请系统”的干预措施。首先，在女王陛下法院服务处的帮助下，我将从先前确定的债权人机构(公用事业公司、政府部门、地方当局)中招募债务人和非债务人。其次，在一系列新颖的实验中，我将研究债务人的外表和与债务相关的刺激(例如信用卡账单)的相互作用，并看看这与他们如何监控自己的财务状况有什么关系。我预测，债务人的外表和与债务相关的刺激相互作用的方式，将预测他们如何监控自己的债务，以及他们负债的程度。第三，然后，我将修改债务人与债务相关刺激的外观和互动方式，并衡量这将如何改变他们的债务相关行为。第四，考虑到欠佳的个人责任很可能是债务人行为的基础，我将创建一份“责任-债务”问卷来衡量这一点。然后，由于强迫症的个人责任增加会导致更多的监控(例如，“我对房子烧毁负有责任，因此，我会去监控烤箱！”)，我将试验性地增加债务人的责任，目的是加强他们对债务相关刺激的监控(例如，“我对我的债务负责，所以我会打开我的信用卡账单，寻求偿还它们的方法！”)。然后，我将使用从这些实验中收集的数据，并将其应用于mydas(管理您的债务应用系统)手机干预的设计，该系统旨在改善债务人监控其债务的方式。因此，MyDAS将致力于改变债务人与债务相关刺激的看法和互动方式，并提高他们的总体责任程度，这反过来又将加强财务监测，减少财务债务，并改善心理健康。关于最后一点，我的建议的另一个方面是，改进财务监测和责任将产生更好的健康结果。与谢菲尔德的公民咨询债务股合作，我计划将MyDA部署到其组织内的有问题的债务人，并在其17个相关的民航处单位中部署到整个英国。我的研究将对科学和社会产生广泛的影响。科学：通过提供对债务人思维过程的经验理解，并提供干预，以改变那些对债务至关重要的思维过程。社会：通过提供新的工具来识别有问题的债务人和干预措施(MyDA)，我的研究将使债务人(更快地寻求帮助，减少债务)、债权人(偿还)和债务减免机构都受益。

Despite personal debt being an ever increasing problem within our society the psychological understanding of debt and interventions to the problem remain elusive. The present project provides a novel solution to this problem by using insights from those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, who are known to excessively monitor (e.g., "Did I turn the oven OFF?"), and applying this to debtors who avoid monitoring their financial situation (e.g., Ignoring credit card statements).This research builds upon my recently awarded PhD and 6 peer reviewed papers which examined reasons why those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder monitor their thoughts and actions. Simply, I showed that those with OCD have poor attention which results in them looking for things which are not there, i.e., excessive monitoring. Furthermore, in Clinical Psychology Review I showed conclusively that this 'looking for things that are not there' explained a range of experimental findings which up until my paper had been described in the literature as contradictory. Therefore, during this grant I will take my knowledge of monitoring in OCD and apply it to those who avoid monitoring their debt. I will carry out this work in a laboratory setting where I will examine which cognitive factors explain why debtors fail to adequately monitor their debt and then use this information to design an intervention called 'Manage Your Debt Application System' for the mobile phones of debtors. First, with the aid of Her Majesty's Court Services I will recruit debtors and non-debtors from previously identified creditor agencies (utility, Government Department, Local Authority). Second, in a range of novel experiments I will examine how debtors look and interact with debt-related stimuli (e.g., credit card bills) and see how this relates to how they monitor their finances. I predict that the manner in which debtors look and interact with debt-related stimuli will predict how they monitor their debt and how much they are in debt. Third, I will then modify how debtors look and interact with debt-related stimuli and measure how this changes their debt-related behaviours. Fourth, considering that poor personal responsibility likely underlies debtor behaviour I will create a 'Responsibility-Debt' questionnaire to measure this. Then, as increased personal responsibility in OCD results in greater monitoring (e.g., "I am responsible for the house burning down, therefore, I will go monitor the oven!"), I will experimentally increase responsibility in debtors with the aim of increasing their monitoring of debt-related stimuli (e.g., "I am responsible for my debt, so I will open my credit card bills and seek a way to pay them!"). I will then use the data gathered from these experiments and apply it to the design of the MYDAS (Manage Your Debt Application System) mobile phone intervention which will aim to improve how debtors monitor their debt. Thus, MYDAS will aim to change the way in which debtors look and interact with debt-related stimuli and increase their overall degree of responsibility, which in turn will increase financial monitoring, reduce financial debt and improve mental health. In relation to the last point, one of the additional aspects of my proposal that improved financial monitoring and responsibility will result in better health outcomes. In collaboration with Sheffield's Citizens Advice Debt Unit I plan to deploy MYDAS to problematic debtors within their organization and throughout the UK in their 17 associated CAD units. My research will have broad implications for science and society. SCIENCE: By providing an empirical understanding of the thought process of debtors and providing an intervention to change those thought processes key to debt. SOCIETY: By providing new tools to identify problem debtors and interventions (MYDAS) my research will benefit debtors (seek help quicker, reduce debt), creditors (repayment) and debt relief agencies alike.