If people seem a little weirder than usual lately, you probably aren’t imagining things. The seemingly never-ending recession has taken a toll on more than our investment portfolios—it is messing with our psychological health.
A survey released yesterday by StrategyOne is the first I’ve seen to quantify a trend that many of us have already picked up on at work and elsewhere. It found, for example, that 42 percent of Americans say they get angry or emotional more easily now than before the recession, 41 percent are more depressed or sad, and 33 percent admit screaming or raising their voices more frequently. Drinking, smoking, and illegal drug use are all reported up, as well.
In other news, the physician-recruiting firm Merritt Hawkins reported today that the demand for psychiatrists is growing faster than for any other medical specialty, up 47 percent from the previous year and 121 percent from three years ago.
Based on past experience, many of us believe our portfolios will recover, eventually. Let’s hope our psyches do too.
Meanwhile, anybody have any good recession-coping strategies to share (ideally legal and reasonably healthy)? Please comment, below.
—Greg Daugherty
Greg writes the “Retirement Guy” column each month in our Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter.
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