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