Economy triggering depression, anxiety

n his stirring inauguration speech, President Barack Obama urged Americans to choose hope over fear.

While Obama's election clearly has given some people a lift, rhetoric alone isn't comforting those hit hardest by the country's economic downturn.

As people lose jobs or watch their retirement savings dry up, some local psychiatrists say they are seeing an increasing number of new patients with depression or anxiety, and that the symptoms of some current patients have worsened.

Beyond that, these doctors say, many who need treatment aren't receiving it because they cannot pay, having lost their jobs or their insurance.

Psychiatrist Bhawani Ballamudi, who practices at Dean Clinic East, said she is seeing a lot of depression.

"They just lost their job and have a family to feed, and they are trying to figure out how to do that, and that has caused a lot of stress," she said.

According to a Jan. 31 story in the New York Times, cries for help have increased nationwide. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline reported a 36 percent jump in calls over the last year, to 545,851 from 402,167. Richard McKeon, a psychologist and federal public health expert, said crisis centers were reporting "a significant increase in the number of people who are giving economic reasons" for calling, whether it is "the loss of a job, loss of a home, or fear of that."

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Economy prompts more calls to suicide hotlines

Many mental-health crisis and suicide hotlines are reporting a surge in calls from Americans feeling despair over financial losses.

It's unknown if the economic meltdown will lead to more suicides, says Lanny Berman, executive director of the Washington-based American Association of Suicidology. "Maybe the fact that so many are calling is a positive sign. They're seeking help."

Although suicides spiked during the Great Depression, they didn't increase in subsequent recessions, which lasted an average of 10 months, according to the suicidology group's website. The current recession is 13 months long and counting.

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The working wounded

Mental illness is costing the Canadian economy a staggering $51-billion a year, and each day 500,000 people miss work because of psychiatric problems. What are employers doing about it? Not much.

The day Sylvie Giasson lost her job at the National Gallery of Canada – a victim of restructuring – it was as if a black hole opened up to swallow her.

The Gatineau, Que., translator began stuttering and crying. The tears wouldn't stop. She couldn't sleep. Suicidal thoughts overwhelmed her.

It took all the energy Ms. Giasson could muster to get herself to hospital, where she was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety disorder. She spent seven months in the Royal Ottawa Hospital, being treated with medication, counselling and electroconvulsive therapy. And she endured it all virtually alone.

“Nobody wants to visit a loved one in a mental hospital,” Ms. Giasson said. There were no flowers or get-well-soon cards. No one called.

Society's silence about mental health is deafening. When you are diagnosed, you disappear. Yet the vast majority of Canadians suffering from mental illness – such severe conditions as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia – are not in hospital but in the community and at work.

Mental illness accounts for a stunning 40 per cent of disability claims and sick leaves in Canada. While employees jest about “mental-health days,” they are no joke. Every day, 500,000 Canadians are absent from work due to psychiatric problems; the most recent estimate pegged the annual economic burden of mental illness at a staggering $51-billion. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2020, depression will be the leading cause of disability on the planet.

READ MORE @ THE GLOBE AND MAIL