Hard Times: HEALTH PLUS:One way of dealing with recession depression is by looking at the positive changes it has brought
THE r******** word has become so repetitive that articles analysing its impact tend to evoke simultaneous fear, anger and ennui.
Yet there is a level of compulsive attention to the recession: a feeling that unless one keeps up to date on the latest credit-crunch casualties, one could unwittingly be numbered among them and turn up for work after the weekend to a job that has disappeared. The casualties of the recession are so many that if we are not already among them we need to check if we have been added to the list.
In truth, we are all casualties of this time. Our recession ruminations and our compulsive worrying is understandable. We are still stunned; still in the early stages of reaction to the realisation that “the future is not what it used to be”, that our plans for working life or retirement from work have been stolen.
There is a post-traumatic element to our response to the recession because its arrival was sudden, shocking and therefore traumatic. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder induces shock, denial, anger and grief.
The need to talk about what happened, to see if there were warning signs and to berate oneself for not seeing them are classic reactions. These include the “if only” torments: if only I had seen it coming, had not invested my hard-earned cash, had not placed my trust in institutions, had not bought the house at the peak or delayed the decision to sell until too late and if only I knew what to do now.
Hypervigilance for danger is also typical of this time: a justifiable paranoia in relation to any statement by anyone in authority lest trusting in others should bring further distress. That is why there is such attention to every utterance about the recession, for any apparent attempt by those in power to deceive. When trust is taken, it is not easily restored.
There are other emotions. There is anxiety about the future, anger if already a victim, frustration at suffering from something not of one’s making, concern for the hardship on those who are hurt and survivor guilt if one has escaped the worst.
But this is also a time to consider that if we cannot change what is happening in our lives we can make lifestyle adjustments to cope.
One approach to dealing with recession depression is to look at what positive changes might arise for families from this.
Certainly there are indications that some families with young children are spending more time together, planning more activities as a family and engaging in outings that do not cost money which are the types of outing that have classically often been the most beneficial for children.
For example, it is impractical to spend time in shopping emporia tempting children with what they cannot have and so walks in the park, trips up the mountains, shell collecting by the sea and, more recently, building snowmen delight a child’s heart once they get into it all.
There is more sharing and lending between children and between families of the box sets, of the CDs, the games and a return to community from an individualised way of living when money was so plentiful that everyone bought their own goods and consumed them in isolation. Now the lawnmowers may be lent in April, more help given by neighbours to each other and a modern urban type “meitheal” may become the norm.
Children love libraries. They are free to visit and rich for the mind. Families are returning to borrowing books and library activities. Making gifts has educational as well as financial benefit and parents have always cherished most the birthday cards their children have made for them.
Packed picnics can replace the fast food fill-up on the way home from outings and is often more nutritious and more fun than anything bought.
Family meals together will be more common when individual processed microwaved alternatives for everyone is no longer financially possible. Some families are already using their electronic games together, are also doing jigsaws, enjoying board games, and gathering together more in communal parts of the home now that consideration has to be given to heating bills, no longer tenable for every room of an entire house all the time.
The greatest mental health intervention for children and adolescents is positive time spent with parents sharing activities. Ironically, the recession may allow parents and children to rediscover the priceless value of being together more. No money required.
* Clinical psychologist and author Marie Murray is the director of the student counselling services in UCD