Getting at the Root Cause

To really get control of your spending and your credit card debt, you need to examine what money means to you. Make an effort to notice how you interact with money, and what beliefs and attitudes you have about it. Studies show that people with low self-esteem engage in more impulse spending and buying things they don't need.

Remind yourself daily that money, or a lack of it, doesn't determine who you are. Your worth as a person has nothing to do with how much money you have. Once you truly believe this, and money is no longer connected to your sense of self-worth, you open up the psychological barriers that were keeping you from wisely handling the money you do have, and limiting your ability to make more.

If psychological factors influence your spending, credit reduction programs are like using perfume to cover body odor; they will treat only the symptoms, not the root cause. Working on the psychological aspects while taking steps to reduce debt will greatly increase your chances of long-term success.

Source