Millions of Americans are still recovering from the “Great Recession” of 2008. But it’s not just their finances that took a hit.
Those who suffered financial hardships due to the ruinous economic downturn are also more likely to be depressed, anxious and use drugs now, according to new research published in Clinical Psychological Science.
“Individuals who experienced even a single recession impact still had higher odds of nearly all of the adverse mental health outcomes we examined — including clinically significant symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, panic and problems with drug use,” said lead researcher Miriam Forbes of Macquarie University in Sydney. “And these odds were higher still in specific sociodemographic groups who suffered marked losses during the recession or without a strong safety net.”
The “Great Recession” began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. Forbes and her former colleague at the University of Minnesota, Robert F. Krueger, pulled data from the ongoing Midlife in the United States survey of adults ages 25 to 75; specifically, they looked at statistics gathered three years before the beginning and after the end of the recession.
Some earlier studies have actually shown a small decrease in negative mental health symptoms between the period prior to the recession and in the years after.
However, Forbes and Krueger found that those who experienced hardships as a result of the imploding economy — such as bankruptcy, home loss and foreclosure and job layoff — were more likely to report symptoms of depression, anxiety, panic disorder and substance abuse.
Some people in the survey felt the impacts more than others. For example, those without a college degree were more likely to suffer anxiety, specifically about their job prospects.
And people who were single or lived alone and experienced housing hardships more often turned to drugs, they found.
Interestingly, those who were at a financial advantage prior to the recession were also particularly affected. Their housing and personal finance issues drove more of them to anxiety and drug use compared with their less-advantaged counterparts — suggesting that their drastic fall from financial favor left a big psychological scar.
“Our study provides a new perspective on the impact of the Great Recession,” Forbes said. “By looking at individuals’ mental health and experiences of the recession, we could see a different picture.”
She also says their findings suggest that these mental health outcomes may have made their financial situations worse and that therapy could lessen the psychological “burdens” and also “stimulate faster economic recovery.”
Forbes concluded, ominously, that people should keep their findings in mind given that “The next period of economic contraction might begin as early as 2020.”
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