Financial fears send nation's stress soaring
— -- Albert Levy is a doctor to the wealthy. His Park Avenue office, in a building where co-op apartments start at $3 million, speaks to his success. As the nation lurches through this financial crisis, he's paying a price for that status: calls at all hours from stressed-out patients, including a trio he received concerning one family Sunday:
•Call No. 1:A desperate call from the wife of a 48-year-old patient recently laid off by Credit Suisse, the international bank that sliced its workforce amid the credit crisis. Her husband had suffered an apparent heart attack, she said, and they were in a hospital emergency room.
•Call No. 2:The husband phoned. He described his acute chest pain and asked Levy to join them at the hospital.
•Call No. 3:This call came from hospital staff. Levy conferred with an emergency room doctor and they decided it wasn't a heart attack. It was acute anxiety. Or indigestion.
As a nation, we are struggling emotionally to digest each day's dour economic news. Record home foreclosure filings — more than 2 million January through August. The stock market's Dow Jones industrial average down 18.4% this year. Retirement and college savings crumbling. Then there's that looming $700 billion bailout for the financial industry.
"The feeling of self-failure is tremendous," says Levy, a family physician for 28 years. "Some people feel that at least if they have a real heart attack or stroke, they have a good excuse not to bring money home."
The credit crisis of recent weeks — and economic decline of recent months — is pitting clients against brokers or financial advisers. It's making workers feel insecure in their jobs. And it often leads to quarrels among spouses with different views over how to handle their finances.
Unlike many other forms of stress — such as an upcoming presentation at work or a visit from the in-laws — financial stress doesn't go away quickly.
Often, a plummeting portfolio or free-falling 401(k) results in behavior that touches an entire family. Fewer family treats. Less family time. And that inner inkling to turn to vices.
"We've never had this much activity, not even after 9/11," says Ann Clark, CEO at ACI Specialty Benefits, a national employee counseling service. "Everyone is asking for help."
Calls for financial-related consulting to the company are up 85% compared with this time last year, Clark says. Until last week, holiday stress was to be the topic of the pamphlets, brochures, newsletters, Internet seminars and podcasts the company planned for October. That plan has been scrapped for a series of new material: Coping During Difficult Financial Times.
