How to Conquer Recession Depression

Oct. 7, 2008 — -- Listen in at a coffee shop, stop a stranger on the street or strike up a conversation at the bus stop and you'll likely hear a story like Marie Moore's.

Struggling to pay her bills and concerned about her husband's prolonged unemployment, the 31-year-old human resources assistant said the recession is taking an emotional toll.

"I stay up worrying and not being able to sleep very well, I'm constantly thinking," Moore told ABCNews.com. "He kind of tends to shut down a bit and sleep a lot."

The Moores' story is not unusual. The couple moved from Harrisburg, Pa., to Danville, Pa., during the summer for a job opportunity, but Moore's husband was laid off shortly thereafter when his employer restructured. Today, the former general manager of a banquet facility finds himself in a situation he's never faced before as he waits tables and looks for work.

"I try not to skip my credit card bills, but the electric right now is three months' late. The telephone is two months' late," Moore said.

With the stock market plunging and Americans losing their homes and jobs, it's no surprise that mental health can take a nose-dive as well. In tough economic times, hopelessness and depression can encroach on our energy and optimism.

"It isn't your normal kind of recession, which makes it more fearful and it paralyzes people," said Harvey Brenner, a public health professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, who has long studied the relationship between mental health and recession.

Brenner also said suicide rates can almost become economic indicators.

In Virginia, a suicide hot line said suicide-related calls in July and August were up 62 percent from the same time last year. Though the hot line's operators said the rise is not all due to the economy, call logs indicate that's part of what's going on.

Crisis hot lines around the country have reported recent increases of people concerned about their finances. ComPsych, the largest provider of employee assistance programs, said calls from people asking for help because of stress from financial problems jumped 21 percent in July 2008, from a year earlier. ValueOptions, which also runs employee assistance programs, said people calling to ask for help with financial problems have jumped 89 percent.