| Social Service Hotlines report a major surge | | | | Historical research shows that during |
| in phone calls from emotionally distraught | | | | economic turmoil, the rates of suicide and |
| homeowners. The prevalent issue appears to | | | | depression rise. |
| stem from the housing crisis. | | | | |
| | | | Financial stress can often be the last straw, |
| Psychologists state that the real estate | | | | triggering pre-existing mental health |
| meltdown is creating a wide range of | | | | conditions to surface. |
| emotional behavior. | | | | |
| | | | Suicide can seem like the only option |
| Mental Health Groups, such as the American | | | | available when it feels as if there is no |
| Psychological Association, say that problems | | | | future in sight. |
| such as domestic violence, marital | | | | |
| disharmony, depression, alcoholism, gambling, | | | | Imagine how helpless you'd feel if the home |
| and even suicide, are increasing as the pace | | | | that you had been working so hard for over |
| of foreclosures escalates. | | | | the many, long years was all of a sudden |
| | | | taken from you. You'd feel anger, resentment, |
| One in seven homeowners are not confident | | | | frustration, embarrassment, and |
| that they will be able to keep up with paying | | | | overwhelmingly without hope. |
| their mortgages over the next six months. | | | | |
| | | | In many households, the threat of the |
| According to an Associated Press - AOL Money | | | | financial consequences associated with the |
| and Finance Poll, more than a quarter of | | | | housing slump has a huge bearing on one's |
| homeowners in the United States fear the loss | | | | emotional state. |
| of value in their homes over the next couple | | | | |
| of years. | | | | Studies show a strong connection between |
| | | | emotional stress and financial distress. It |
| Up until the housing crisis, the increased | | | | is not uncommon to suffer from insomnia, |
| value of real estate had homeowners | | | | migraines, nausea, depression and anxiety |
| re-financing left, right and center; | | | | during these troubling times. |
| homeowners felt secure and cashed-up. | | | | |
| | | | Unfortunately, due to excessively high |
| Unfortunately, April's foreclosure filings | | | | medical costs, the dilemmas of not having |
| show a more dismal reality since the housing | | | | access to private mental-health treatment in |
| boom; one in every five hundred and nineteen | | | | the midst of a financial crisis is also |
| households received a foreclosure filing this | | | | problematic. |
| year. A surge of 65% since last year. | | | | |
| | | | As adults we tend to neglect the opinions and |
| Leading analysts warn that the crisis seems | | | | feelings of our children. Don't forget that |
| to be accelerating; sinking home values, | | | | our children are also feeling extreme anxiety |
| rising foreclosures, an excess of homes for | | | | and helplessness in our stressful financial |
| sale, and tighter lending rules, which | | | | situation. |
| disadvantage those trying to re-finance, and | | | | |
| shut-out those trying to purchase. | | | | Remember that children will sometimes blame |
| | | | themselves for the situations that we, as |
| A survey by the American Psychologists' | | | | adults/parents, find ourselves in. Just as we |
| Association sites that half of the Americans | | | | need coping mechanisms in order to push |
| they interviewed identified rent and mortgage | | | | through hard times, so do our children. |
| costs as significantly high sources of | | | | |
| stress. | | | | Be patient and kind with each other; these |
| | | | are trying times! |