When Bankruptcy Weakens the Couple: Tensions, Blame, and Breakups

This article is part of the "Psychology of Bankruptcy" series, exploring the psychological impact of financial collapse and paths to recovery. — Clinical Case — Nathalie and Eric have been a couple for twenty-two years. When Eric's company was placed in judicial liquidation, they thought they would hold strong together. "We've always gotten through everything together," says Nathalie. But twelve months later, she sleeps in the guest room. Evening conversations have turned into anxious accounting or heavy silences. Eric spends hours online searching for solutions. Nathalie feels alone with her own financial worries. "He doesn't talk to me anymore," she says. "He's physically there, but absent. And when we do talk, it's to argue about money." Eric, for his part, feels constantly judged. "Every look from my wife reminds me that I failed. I prefer to say nothing to avoid conflict." This couple is not breaking up because they no longer love each other. They are suffering because the financial crisis has installed toxic relational dynamics between them that neither knows how to defuse.

Money: A Magnifying Glass for Marital Vulnerabilities

In our societies, money is one of the most frequent sources of conflict in couples — well before bankruptcy. It crystallizes issues of power, security, trust, and values. Each partner brings into the relationship their personal history with money: received family models, inherited fears, symbolic meanings attached to wealth and poverty.

When bankruptcy strikes, these latent vulnerabilities surface and intensify. Chronic financial stress — documented as one of the most trying factors for couple life — erodes patience, reduces the capacity for empathy, and fuels negative interpretations of the other's behavior.

Is your couple going through a bankruptcy-related crisis? Discover your attachment style to understand your relational reflexes under pressure.

The Attribution Bias: When You Assume the Worst

In cognitive psychology, attribution bias refers to our tendency to explain behaviors — our own and those of others — in a systematically biased way. In couples in difficulty, this bias often manifests as follows: the partner's negative behaviors are attributed to their personality ("he's selfish," "she doesn't trust"), while the same behaviors on our part are excused by circumstances ("I'm stressed," "I need space").

After a bankruptcy, this bias intensifies. Eric interprets Nathalie's silence as contempt. Nathalie interprets Eric's absence as abandonment. Each is convinced they are reading the other's reality correctly, when in fact they are only reading their own fear through the lens of their wound.

Toxic Relational Dynamics

Psychologist John Gottman identified four communication patterns that are particularly destructive for couples, which he calls the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse": criticism (attacking the other's character rather than their behavior), contempt (treating the other with condescension or derision), defensiveness (self-protecting rather than listening), and stonewalling (retreating into silence or mentally leaving the conversation).

These four patterns frequently appear in couples going through bankruptcy. And their presence is not a sign of fading love — it is a sign of suffering that has found no other channel of expression.

Testimony "We said horrible things to each other during that period. Things we didn't really mean but that hurt. What saved us was a couples therapy session where we could finally say what we were really afraid of losing. And it was the same thing for both of us: losing each other." — Celine and David R., together for eighteen years

Émotional Communication: Expressing What You Feel Rather Than What You Blame

One of the most powerful CBT tools in the marital context is learning emotional communication — knowing how to express what you feel without accusing, criticizing, or interpreting. Concretely, this means reformulating with "I" rather than "you": "I feel lonely when we don't talk in the evening" rather than "You never talk to me."

This distinction seems simple but it radically changes the dynamic of the exchange. "You" triggers defensiveness. "I" opens a window onto real vulnerability — and vulnerability, paradoxically, invites connection rather than distance.

The financial crisis can reveal an emotional dependency that was previously hidden. Test your level of emotional dependency to gain clarity.

First Steps to Preserve the Couple

Set up intentional conversation moments — not to talk about money or logistics, but to check in on each other. "How are you, really?" is a question that gets lost in crises but can sometimes make all the difference. Acknowledge that you are both going through a difficult ordeal, each in your own way, and that your different reactions do not mean you have become strangers. And if tensions become too intense, consider a few couples therapy sessions — not as an admission of failure, but as a resource for getting through an extraordinarily difficult period together.

---

To go further — assess your psychological state:

• Attachment Style Test — understand your relational reflexes under stress
• Émotional Dependency Test — identify dependency schémas activated by the crisis
• Rosenberg Self-Esteem Test — measure the impact on your self-confidence
• Analyze your conversations — spot toxic dynamics in your couple's exchanges

---

Gildas Garrec, CBT Psychotherapist in Nantes — Psychologie et Sérénité

---

Watch: Go Further

To deepen the concepts discussed in this article, we recommend this video:

Rethinking Infidelity - Esther Perel | TEDTED