Americans to Cope with Recession in Both Healthy and Unhealthy Ways

Anxiety and depression will threaten Americans’ mental health in 2009 as the recession progresses, says Dr. Martha Crowther, associate professor of psychology at The University of Alabama.

“With the uncertain job market and stock market, without question the recession is impacting most people,” Crowther says. “I think, depending on individual life factors, it will cause people to have increasing anxiety or depression.”

The mental-health effects of the recession won’t be limited to lower-income families, Crowther says, especially as the middle class faces layoffs and foreclosures.

“I think people tend to spend the amount of money that they have,” she says. “So, even for those who make a lot more money, if they spend what they make, the recession may impact them negatively as well. There are people who are losing houses, and not all of them were marginal in terms of their income.”

Adults engaged in a variety of caregiving, an area of Crowther’s expertise, also may face problems caused by reduced funds, both within the family and in budget cuts in local programs that help them out.

“There’s a tremendous amount of caregiving going on in this country,” she says. “You have people taking care of older adults. You have older adults taking care of children. You also have older adults taking care of children with metal or physical difficulties. Without question, caregiving will be impacted by the economy. There will be fewer resources to do what you’ve always done, and that means fewer personal resources, but also fewer formal resources.”

In the meantime, people will find ways to cope with economic woes, Crowther says, in ways that may not all be detrimental. For example, families may find that reduced circumstances will give them a chance to cut back on their breakneck, expensive lifestyles and do more things together.

“I think we’ll definitely see more people getting therapy, but we’ll also see more people coping in other ways,” she says. “Some of that may be alcohol or drugs – prescription or non-prescription, legal or illegal. But you may see some positive coping as well. People may actually step back and readjust their lives. What families do together may change. They may move from people doing lots of individual things and spending a lot of money to actually increasing quality time.”

Crowther also says that 2009 will provide opportunities for parents and children to talk about economic issues and gain a better understanding of family finances.

“When I was in Wal-Mart, I was buying gift certificates, and the clerk checking me out said that her son, who was 12, told her that he knows the economy is bad, so she doesn’t have to buy him a lot of gifts.” Crowther says. “So, I see an opportunity for families to discuss money. It’s a societal conversation about money that makes it very easy for parents to discuss that with their children. That’s not necessarily bad to bring kids into the conversation about household finances, especially to talk about how to modify spending or to do things differently.