Long-Term Unemployment and Mental Health

Long-term unemployment wreaks mental toll on jobless, By Daniel Lippman, August 16, 2011, Miami Herald: “Lisa Banks feels hopeless. She’s lost an essential part of her identity: Her status as a proud full-time employee is gone. Ever since the 44-year-old Germantown, Md., resident was laid off from her job as an administrator for a federal contractor in May 2009, she’s sent out hundreds of resumes, but only had four interviews. She says she’s depressed enough to try to seek out psychological help. But no luck there either: She doesn’t have insurance to pay for it. ‘I’ve worked all my life. I’ve been a decent person,’ she said. ‘(But now) I feel as if I’m invisible. Like I’m not worth anything to society anymore.’ The one consolation she can take is that she’s not alone. Statistics show that 14 million unemployed Americans still suffer the effects of the recession. Of the jobless, more than 44 percent have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, a time frame the Bureau of Labor Statistics considers long term. The average unemployed American has been out of a job for a record 40.4 weeks, a figure that’s grown steadily in the past 31/2 years – from 17.5 weeks in January 2008…”