Losing a job is hard financially, but not everyone realizes that job loss can affect some people psychologically.
Since the great recession, a term confirmed recently by the Associated Press, began in Dec. 2007, many people have become unemployed or are struggling financially. People with stress associated with losing a job and not having enough money to pay for daily necessities are likely to have psychological effects.
The most common psychological problems associated with unemployment are anxiety and depression, but somatization disorder also seems to be a psychological problem caused by job loss, according to a study.
Some common depression symptoms are feelings of worthlessness, helplessness, guilt, fatigue, insomnia and restlessness, according to EmpowHER. Some symptoms of anxiety include worrying, obsessive thoughts, fear, panic, impatience, concentration problems, rapid or irregular heartbeat and nausea.
An article on Discovery Health stated that one woman lost weight, overslept, had fatigue and a mild form of depression due to her job loss. This is only one example of where mental and physical health can become negatively interrelated due to unemployment. Fortunately, this woman’s depression went away after a couple of weeks and she resumed working within months of her unemployment. She had emotional resiliency that helped her in this process.
The Discovery Health article also gave tips on how to overcome emotions related to unemployment. They include writing down your feelings, finding ways to boost your self-esteem (like writing a list of what you do well and asking for letters of recommendation), reflecting on what you learned from your job loss and practicing understanding difficult people and situations.
Other factors to consider relating to unemployment and mental health are drug and alcohol abuse. Because of the depressed and stressed feelings people can have during difficult financial times, there is an increased chance for detrimental behavior, which is suggested in a CBS article.
One psychiatrist, Sudeepta Varma, said the following in the CBS article: "Spouses are fighting more often, people may turn to drugs or alcohol, smoking, overeating. Losing the job... isn't so much the problem, but the anxiety and the depression and the substance abuse [that can follow]... are often extremely more damaging than the job loss." Varma said suicide rates can also increase during an economic hardship.
Family and friends who know of a recently unemployed person should look for signs of behavior, physical and emotional changes and try to help the best they can. Making a person with psychological issues aware of help and love can only improve the situation.
If problems are more severe and the person does not learn to recover from the slump after losing a job, the unemployed person should see a mental health professional.
Sources:
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/blog/2010/02/great_recession_now_in_style.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1646287/
https://www.empowher.com/media/reference/anxiety#symptoms
https://www.empowher.com/media/reference/depression#symptoms
http://health.discovery.com/centers/mental/articles/job_loss/job_loss.html
http://health.discovery.com/centers/mental/articles/job_loss/job_loss_02.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/20/uttm/main4814655.shtml