Financial high anxiety More of us are worried and seeking mental-health aid

Tribune staff and news services

Sep. 24, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- A wave of anxiety is washing over America, from Wall Street's concrete canyons to the lettuce fields of California to the Salt Lake Valley, propelled by the mortgage industry collapse, high gas prices, tight credit and rising unemployment.

Operators of telephone help lines, insurers and therapists say the financial services crisis, which has caused an explosion of foreclosures and wild gyrations in the stock markets, is sending everyday people to mental-health services at levels not seen since 9/11.

In Utah, calls seeking counseling from the 211 referral line, which connects callers nationwide to a variety of social service providers, were unusually high last week, leading providers to suspect that the financial meltdown was creating stress in many people.

Mondays usually are a busy day, but last week calls peaked on Tuesday -- the day after Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy claim in U.S. history and the bedrock Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) (OOTC:MERIZ) was sold off to Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) , which triggered the largest one-day drop in the stock market since 9/11.

"Rarely do we get more calls on a Tuesday," said Lorna Kochi, services director for the calling service. "It makes us suspect these calls were related to the bad news about the nation's finances."

The center received 83 calls asking for counseling referrals, not quite double the normal volume.

At Valley Mental Health, a behavioral care provider for Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties, one case manager noted that clients contacting the center have been anxious about the economy, said spokeswoman Connie Hines.

One client was so distraught he sold his car, even though he hadn't fallen behind on monthly payments. Hines also said some clients are worried about the upcoming presidential election and its impact on the nation's economy.

"There's been more tension with our clients, and with our staff," said Joye Schack, case manager for the agency's North Valley outpatient center. "People who are physically ill seem to be getting sicker. People understand that if something as big as Merrill Lynch can fail, ultimately it will affect them, their Social Security, their Medicare. When you're on the bottom of the pile, it can get you, too."

Elsewhere, nationwide, the story was the same.

"It's shattering people's dreams of having a piece of the pie," said Victoria Tabios, 52, who works at a mental health agency in Stockton, Calif., a city at the epicenter of the worst U.S. housing crisis since the Great Depression. "There's a sense of hopelessness, irritability and anger."

In New York, the number of calls to the Hopeline network from people with depression or suicidal thoughts leaped to 10,368 in July, 75 percent more than in August 2007. Chicago-based ComPsych Corp., the world's largest provider of employee assistance programs, logged 21 percent more calls seeking help for stress from financial pressures in July than a year earlier, and claims submitted to UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) , the largest U.S. health insurer, show hospital admissions for psychiatric services are up 10 percent this year over last.

"The 9/11 spike was probably higher initially, but this has been more sustained," said ComPsych's CEO Richard Chaifetz. Even people who haven't lost jobs or homes feel the anxiety. A poll taken for the American Psychological Association in April found that three of four Americans are under stress because of money woes.

"We've reached a tipping point where anxiety about the economy is pervasive," said the association's Dan Abrahamson. The worries "are there all the time; you can't get them out of your mind."

That's why Utah retirees Carol Anderson, 75, and husband, Bob, 74, who used to like to have the TV on all day and loved watching the news, now often have their set turned off.

Retired for 15 years, the couple have pensions, but struggle with the rising cost of medical coverage and prescriptions, as well as higher property taxes and increases in food prices. The nation's economic crisis has added to their stress, Carol Anderson said.

"You see all this constant bad news and you think, 'When is the brick going to hit me on the head?' We just feel a great deal of unease. I can see the stress in my husband's face."

Anderson said above all it's the prospect that the downturn could go on for years that has them the most worried. "We're wondering now, are we ever going to feel comfortable again?"

Newstex ID: KRTB-0192-28284116