Is The State of the Economy Making People Depressed?

The state of the American economy is now reaching a monumental low likened to the 1982-83 recession and the great Depression of 1929. People are throwing out the words, recession and even depression. However the New York Times article dated April 18, 2009, concludes that there really isn’t a clear-cut definition universality accepted to define recession. The definition they use in their article is, “Recessions are commonly described as two or more quarters of a declining gross domestic product.”

I found it interesting that they also say that there is no official body in the USA that will declare the beginning or the end of a recession. However, the New York Times do say that the independent organization, The National Bureau of Economic Research, located in Cambridge, Mass, stated the USA entered a recession on December 1, 2007.

The National Bureau of Economic Research defines a recession as an economic slowdown, “normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. They go on to say that a recession occurs just after the economy has peaked at an all time high and then slows down again. They say that recessions normally last about 11 months. Yet, this one has lasted for close to a year and a half with no immediate end in sight.

Is the state of the Economy Causing Unusual Levels of Stress and Depression within the Population?

Although recessions are commonplace this particular recession is making a lot economists and average people nervous as well. The average person is losing his or her home through bankruptcy, and losing his or her job while battling fuel and food costs. The dollar must stretch further even though it is worth less. To further add to the crunch and subsequent paranoia, big mammoth corporations such as AIG, going under due to sub prime mortgage loans, and Chrysler and General Motors in the auto industry, are in economic distress. Government bailouts have been handed out in the billions of dollars.

Who wouldn’t be depressed in times like these?

According to www.faireconomy.org, Blacks are suffering from a silent depression with 12% of the Afro American population out of work. These staggering figures are reaching the numbers and increasing those of the Great Depression of 1929. Faireconomy.org continues to say, “Overall, 24% of Blacks and 21% of Latinos are in poverty, versus 8% of white.”

Christina Positano wrote that Four Million Americans are collecting unemployment. This staggering figure represents the highest amount of recipients in 26 years.

The state of the economy is affecting students who already have clinical depression. During a University Depression screening 24 out of 56 students at Stony Brook University reported that worries over their economic future was adding more stress to their existing levels of stress and depression anxiety. For a student already experiencing depression the thought of looking for a job in these bad times can be overwhelming.

According to the United States Department of Health, the overall unemployment rate for people with mental illness is over 90 percent and many of these individuals are chronically depressed.

Other clinically depressed individuals are now worried over the rising health care cost even if they do in fact hold down a job. Some people are afraid that government will group all people with disabilities into the same classification and distribute uniform disability payments regardless of the cause for disability.

Does the Recession Affect Healthy people?

Most researchers agree that poor economic times increase the numbers of people affected with psychiatric disorders. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that ‘research has found a strong correlation between job loss and clinical and subclinical depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and antisocial behavior. Longitudinal panel studies have suggested that job loss tends to precede the onset of psychiatric disorders, although selection bias clearly contributes to the correlation.^”

Other than that, research is still ongoing but suggests that people with depression and other mental illness may blame job loss on the poor economic times. It also suggests that people needing mental attention may not go through proper mental screening e.g. breast examinations because of the economic hardships.

What also happens is that the demand for psychiatrists goes down as the cost for these services increase, particularly with return maintenance visits. On the other hand new cases of acute depression and other mental disorders will be on the rise. What this means is that psychiatrists will be seeing more and more new cases but these patients will not return because they will not have the means to pay for the services.

Recession or not these economic times are depressing for many Americans.

Sources:

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/recession_and_depression/index.htmlhttp://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:dVCC0-KezywJ:www.faireconomy.org/files/pdf/state_of_dream_2009.pdf+is+the+state+of+the+economy+making+people+depressed%3F&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a

http://www.sbindependent.org/node/2645

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/360/8/749