Part II: The Shame of Debt Adjustment in Finland

WHEN STRESS NEVER ENDS

To truly grasp the emotional toll of debt adjustment, we need to understand stress itself. Hans Selye, the Canadian-Hungarian endocrinologist and father of stress theory, defined stress as:

“An acute threat to the homeostasis of an organism. It may be real (physical), or perceived (psychological), and posed by events in the outside world or from within.”

When our body’s natural balance — homeostasis — is disrupted, suffering follows.

In 2019, my homeostasis was shattered.

Divorce. A move. The death of my beloved pet. The impending bankruptcy of my company.

These are textbook examples of Stressful Life Events (SLEs): sudden shocks that trigger the fight-or-flight response. Normally, stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol spike, then return to baseline once the threat passes.

But for me, the threat never passed. Bankruptcy, which in many countries would have ended the crisis, was only the beginning here in Finland: a multi-year debt adjustment program. Acute stress turned into chronic stress. My body’s alarm system got stuck on ON. I lived for years in a cycle of shame, hopelessness, isolation, and constant anger.

It took me a long time to understand these weren’t “just feelings.” They were the emotional symptoms of chronic financial stress, hardwired into my body and mind.

SHAME

Mieli ry, Finland’s leading mental health organization, confirmed what I was living. Their 2023 report, “The Effects of Over-Indebtedness on Daily Life and Mental Health in Families with Children,” found that people in debt are at significantly higher risk of depression, anxiety, and insomnia, and experience more frequent physical illness.

Another report by Aapo Hiilamo from Mieli Ry highlighted that debt specifically creates worry, shame, and anxiety tied to payment penalties and financial and social problems.

This wasn’t theory for me. It was my reality.

As I wrote in Part I, renting a home while in debt adjustment is nearly impossible. Without a clean credit record, you’re treated like an outcast. I shed so many tears, wondering if I would end up homeless with my two small kids, simply because landlords wouldn’t rent to someone like me.

The anxiety was crushing. I could literally see the stress on my body — new grey hairs appearing, sleepless nights, endless worry about where we would live. Eventually, I found a place, and today I’ve made peace with it. But for a long time, I was very depressed about my reality.

And I know I’m not alone. At the end of 2024, there were 4,138 people accepted into debt adjustment, compared to 264,124 individuals in debt enforcement, otherwise known as “ulosotto” in Finnish.

Most of those in debt enforcement are there because of poor financial management or over-borrowing — often made possible by banks and financial institutions that hand out credit too easily. That’s an important discussion on its own.

My focus is on entrepreneurs.

Because when a business fails, the aftermath in Finland is brutally unforgiving.

Bankruptcy should not mean the end of an entrepreneur’s future. These are the very people most likely to create new businesses, new jobs, and growth, yet instead of being supported to try again, they are shut out by laws and stigma.

Debt doesn’t just lock you out of housing; it can follow you into the job market.

At a recent interview, I was directly asked about my debt adjustment. Even though I explained that it had officially ended, the situation was unsettling. Of course, I would understand this if we were talking about a position of trust — for example, a role where you must hold proxy rights or manage a company’s finances. Those roles require a clean credit record. But this was not the case.

Friends warned me that my openness about bankruptcy could be why I wasn’t getting hired, even as I searched for a new job. Imagine that: punished financially, socially, and then again professionally.

This is the emotional toll people don’t see.

The shame.

Someone recently said to me, “But only you see yourself that way; others don’t.” Well, I know I’m not the only one.

Some time ago, I spoke to a well-known entrepreneur who once had a flourishing business before COVID. They said to me,

“The shame, and the feeling that you are a nobody.”

That hit me hard because it was exactly how I had felt for years. Hearing someone finally say it out loud confirmed everything I had been carrying inside. And in comparison, to someone whose business had once done millions in gross sales to feel the same way I did, it shows how stigma can lock anyone out. Whether it’s someone like me, whose business never grew big, or someone who ran a thriving company, it’s all the same: once your company goes bankrupt, you are worth nothing.

If you are reading this and have had the same feelings, I want to hear from you, head to my contact page.

THE BODY KEEPS SCORE

Stress doesn’t just attack the mind. It destroys the body.

We’ve all felt the pit in the stomach before a big presentation — a direct, physical symptom of acute stress. But when stress never ends, the body breaks down.

By 2021, I began having panic attacks. My heart racing, shortness of breath, unable to calm down.

One of the worst episodes happened during a startup event, Arctic15 in 2022. The company I was working at was taking part of a VIP investors-event, and I was supposed to give a speech about our company. We had agreed in advance that I would do it, but just hours before, I had a major panic attack — my heart started racing, I was sweating, nervous as hell, and I completely froze. In the end, I couldn’t do it. The anxiety was so overwhelming that my boss had to step in and give the speech instead.

This wasn’t the moment that changed everything — it was proof of how badly the bankruptcy had broken me down. I had always been comfortable at startup events and networking opportunities, but during those years, that confidence was gone. Networking, once second nature to me, became something I feared. I carried that choking sensation with me into every room, every handshake, every conversation. It was as if the stress had rewired my entire professional presence.

Insomnia set in.

Also in 2021, I was diagnosed with diverticulitis — a gut disease I never had before.

Chronic stress disrupts what scientists call the brain–gut–microbiota axis. It increases intestinal permeability — often called “leaky gut” — weakening the protective lining of the intestines and allowing bacteria to leak into the bloodstream.

For me, this meant fighting a war on two fronts. Inside, my immune system battled inflammation from my own gut bacteria. Outside, it was too weak to defend against everyday viruses.

For three years, I was constantly sick. Colds, infections, flu after flu. Some people, even the closest to me, didn’t believe me, as if I was exaggerating. But my body was the evidence. Every sleepless night, every panic attack, every doctor visit was proof of what debt adjustment had done to me.

CONCLUSION: THE HIDDEN COST

The emotional toll of debt adjustment is brutal. The physical toll is undeniable. Together, they break people down in ways statistics alone can’t capture.

My personal experience, as heavy as it is to write about, is something I would never wish on anyone.

We need change — not only in attitudes, but in the law itself. The debt adjustment law, and even the law around what happens to people when they declare bankruptcy, are in urgent need of reform.

And let’s be honest: Finland’s economy is in a dire state. Finland’s only real hope lies in new businesses being born, and the best people to create them are former business owners, failed or not. That also means changing our attitudes toward entrepreneurship so it is no longer frowned upon, and ensuring that new entrepreneurs are given real opportunities, especially financial ones, to succeed.

Part III will focus on this: how society and legislation must shift if people like me are ever going to rebuild.

Photo by Stormseeker on Unsplash