How advisors spot clients’ mental-health crises, and respond

Financial advisors are increasingly identifying clients in mental-health crisis by signs such as obsessive market worries, sudden spending shifts and strain in family relationships.

Advisors point to layoffs, missed retirement goals and volatile markets as sources of stress. A 2025 Northwestern Mutual study found nearly 70% of Americans said financial uncertainty made them feel depressed or anxious, up eight percentage points since 2023.

Clients rarely declare a mental-health crisis. Advisors monitor frequent calls about market crashes, abrupt new spending and repeated expressions of worry. Carolyn McClanahan, founder of Life Planning Partners, uses open questions such as ‘Tell me about how often you worry?’

During meetings, advisors watch behavior: changes in eye contact, slower or erratic decision-making and shifts in spending. Family problems can signal or deepen a client’s struggles; Elana Feinsmith, a financial therapist and coach, observed that a family member in crisis ‘puts the family in crisis.’

Many advisors are building referral networks that include therapists, addiction specialists and financial therapists. McClanahan recommends keeping a vetted list of local professionals and offering to contact a therapist on a client’s behalf, a practice she describes as a ‘human-to-human’ approach.

Financial therapy focuses on emotions tied to money and is used alongside planners, accountants and estate attorneys. Feinsmith adds that financial therapists can support clients from diagnosis through treatment and recovery and address emotional drivers of spending, saving and investment behavior.

Addictions such as gambling, day trading and substance abuse can create debt, family conflict and long-term credit damage. American Addiction Centers lists substance abuse among the top three causes of homelessness and debt. Rehabilitation can cost thousands of dollars.

Advisors emphasize matching the problem to the specialist: a gambling or substance issue to an addiction professional and a money-focused problem to a financial therapist. McClanahan notes that some professions, including physicians, may face career risks if an addiction goes untreated.

Advisors maintain professional boundaries. Feinsmith cautioned that mental-health professionals should not provide portfolio guidance and that each specialist should remain within their area of expertise.

Practical steps used by advisors include asking open-ended questions, creating a safe meeting environment, monitoring behavioral cues and keeping contact information for local therapists and addiction specialists. Advisors report that clients who address emotions tied to money tend to participate more in financial planning and decision-making.