wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

I was one of the callers on today's program.
FIRST OFF, let me thank God that WNYC exists and that I had the wherewithall to donate last year.
SECONDLY, I wanted to encourage MY therapist to call in to your program, but she is too busy keeping 12 hour days, helping folks like me keep going and not giving up in light of the economy.

i think the point about insurance is a good one...how to get mental health services when most needed when you've lost your job? and for those of us fortunate enough to have it, the benefits are typically paltry...i get 20 sessions a year with a hefty co-pay. no option to increase mental health coverage!

Just fyi to anyone looking for some cheer: we did focus on some happier uncommon economic indicators last week. Visit our segment on Bright Spots, where you can get the mp3 download. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2009/02/04/segments/122865

And thanks to all our listeners for the advice they have posted here. We hope you'll take advantage of our Bulletin Board to post more questions or advice for each other.
http://issues.wnyc.org/wiki/index.php/Bulletin_board

I work as a therapist at an agency in Yonkers, with an inner city, poor, primarily minority population, with low education, few resources... almost all of whom are HIV+. In a way it is the total opposite of the first caller. With the cutbacks happening at social service organizations and government progams like Medicaid and disability, my clients are feeling a HUGE increase in feelings of marginalization, of discrimination, of feeling like they are being excluded, and that their lives are worthless. My clients are feeling so much pain because they are having an even harder time feeding themselves and their families. That said, we are still able to do a lot of work on the idea that all lives are worthy, all lives have meaning, and we can explore issues of mortality and trauma sometimes more openly than the wealthy clientele of the first caller.

(quick follow-up to last long comment)

as difficult as it can be to confront all of this, i truly believe the emotional- and cognitive-based therapy mentioned is absolutely necessary...the best recommendation i have (wish i'd read any of this years ago!) is john gottman's books ("Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work"), sue johnson's "Hold Me Tight," Thich Nhat Hanh's "Anger" and positive psychology books, "The How of Happiness"

mary marley, yeah just put your fingers in your ears and close your eyes - it will all be over soon.

I would love to get therapy, does your guest know anyone who offers a sliding scale? I am a musician with no insurance, and the recession is not helping either.

I am a psychotherapist in private practice. I am seeing a few things during our current economic downturn. First, I am dealing with my own concerns of patients cutting back on how often they come to treatment and my loss of income. I am working harder to contain my own anxiety as I listen to the anxiety of others. I am also working to enjoy the benefits of some extra free time. Trends among clients include, increased overall anxiety, manifesting in some in obsessive thoughts about other security issues--such as locking doors; some increase in mildly reckless behavior, such as increased spending, and more arguing with strangers.
I think it is important to point out that this economic crisis is like other crises: people can only be in a very heightened state of arousal for a limited period of time. Then they either start to make peace with what is, or perhas develop some level of true depression. We each carry past experiences, overall tempermant, and strenghs and weaknesses with us into every crisis we face.

Last August I was diagnosed with breast cancer and, having just finished chemotherapy and surgery, I'm finally coming to terms with the financial fallout of my medical bills. I have reasonably good insurance and I'm still stuck with over $40,000 in uncovered expenses. The anxiety over my finances has been equal to or worse than my anxiety over my health problems... In other words it's been downright disabling. I know there's never a good time to get cancer, but I can't think of a much worse time. I'm solidly middle class, employed, and I have health insurance How does anyone sleep at night if they don't have insurance in these frightening times?

i an artist in brooklyn, living with many other artist. i live, as many here do, paycheck to paycheck. we in our community here have always helped each other out. we live with the stress of always money and not having it. struggle is dailey that this recession doesn't seem to be anything other than another day. we live in illegal lofts,and have the stress also of possibly coming home one day to be locked out.i think the diffrence between people with alot money losing it and those who never had is community and creativity as how to get by financially and emtionally

Can any of the guests recommend how to get psychological services when you may be short on cash/insurance?

Please Please Please bring back the election coverage!!!I can't take the day after day of glum and dom!!!! I have lost over $250,000 in my net worth but T. G. still have my own business going strong, and my Husband works for Credit Suisse - we worry like every one else but please can we have a happy show!!!!!

my husband moved out a few weeks before my job was eliminated more than six months ago. the irony is not lost on me that he left mostly because of the mounting stress of the job and the inability to cope with the anxiety i was experiencing as the project deteriorated. losing the job really broke down my barrier to therapy and confronting the patterns that go back to childhood for both of us.

unfortunately, while we were separated my partner started another relationship, one that he considered a "substitute" when he was convinced we had no future. it's over now, and i'm torn between truly being grateful for the silver lining -- that we realized how important our marriage is -- and trying to cope with his extramarital relatioship, however brief and however it happened while i'm still looking for work.

the "materialistic loss" as well as the the loss of my prestige, earning a six-figure income, being the primary breadwinner, and dealing with healing the relationships of this wound to my marriage...all of it has undone me. i empathize with other comments, caller about depression, while having gratitude that i'm even seeing these issues more clearly.

(very long comment...but then again, it's a lot isn't it?)

Awh poor guy with the $500k cap.
My heart bleeds.
Run off to your shrink for a pill.
There were no pills or shrinks for Black folks in the days when we couldn't vote, or sit in the front of the bus, or be president.
My how times have changed.
Come on up to the hood, we'll show you how to cope.

I am a 23 year old college grad, I had been working for almost a year, but have been unemployed for almost two months now. I can't get any work, and recently broke my arm. =[
Well, at least I have all of those student loans to pay off! Yay!

I grew up in poor, on food stamps, etc. People looked at my family with disdain, like being poor was an illness that they'd catch, or like all poor people would steal from them. In fact my parents are some of the hardest working, kindess people I know. They just hand hard luck with jobs and health. I am vindicated seeing all the rich people who are finally feeling what it's like to be poor. I think it's good for them!

Having a spouse and kids certainly helps... but what about those of us who lose our job and are SINGLE??

I work in a school and in my counseling work and general observations I can see the effect that the recession is having on the kids. More and more kids are coming to school with increased anxieties and awareness over their parents' finances. I think it must be getting harder and harder for parents to shield their kid's from the harsh realities of the economic situation. I've seen this anxiety expressed in more disruptive behaviors and in more kids in need of general emotional support.

I'm in my first year out of college and lucky enough to have found a job before this all blew up.

That being said, though, I have no concept of what supporting myself in a good economy is like. This is all I've known, and it's beyond scary.

what's crazy is that your family wants you to be upbeat and positive, but there is nothing to encourage positivity when the job search is unsuccessful, your resumes get rejected all the time and you can't afford the damn help to encourage yourself.

Since being layed off, I find myself sleeping as much as 16 hour a day. Even when I get up and start to do something, I feel the physical need to lay down again. I'm on Lexapro but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Please don't suggest exercise because I can't even think about that. Will this sleep phase pass?

We would greatly appreciate if therapists would accept copayments and allow patients to have the insurance companies pay the remainder to the therapists directly, rather than ask for the full amount up-front.

We don't have the cash flow (or cash) to make up front payments for the full amount of the fees, but could manage the co-payments, at least for now.

My wife was laid off along with her whole division a couple of months ago. She has been sending out resumes but getting no response and that makes her feel like looking for work is pointless. I don't know what to tell her because it is extremely disheartening to not have your effort rewarded in any way. The salt in the wound is that she is a legal immigrant who paid into the unemployment system the whole time she was employed but was laid off a month before the two-year deadline (and utterly unethical) for immigrants collecting unemployment.

This recession (or is it a depression that the government has not yet announced)is causing me and those around me to have bi-polar tendencies. One day you can convince yourself that everything will be okay and be optimistic. The next day you are stressed, depressed and freaking out because your back is against the wall.

I am a horrible person. I couldn't help but feel only a bit of schadenfruede (sp?) when that psychotherapist was discussing her rich patients who were having "meltdowns." I am really, really horrible. Probbaly need therapy myself.

I've been living on $360 in weekly unemployment since May. I've exhausted ALL extensions. I was only able to afford one month of COBRA after being 'let go' in May, so I lost my medical coverage (which included psychiatry sessions and daily antidepressants). All gone now. To top the ice cream sundae of woe, my psychiatrist moved to Pasadena in July. Happy 2009 everybody!

You know it is getting bad when the dollar store prices are now --over-- a dollar. ..and... the people shopping there are dressed as if they purchased their clothes in a high-end dept store (during better times).