Economic crisis taking mental toll on women

‘Mother ... is person everyone looks to’

Chris and Curtis Parks look over their coupons before deciding where to shop for groceries. Both were employed at ABX Air, but Curtis now is working toward an accounting degree and Chris is studying to be a respiratory therapist.

Staff photo by Ty Greenlees Chris and Curtis Parks look over their coupons before deciding where to shop for groceries. Both were employed at ABX Air, but Curtis now is working toward an accounting degree and Chris is studying to be a respiratory therapist.

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By Jessica Wehrman, Staff Writer 9:30 PM Thursday, April 30, 2009

WASHINGTON — The struggling economy not only has battered savings accounts, credit card limits and retirement funds, it also has taken a psychological toll, according to a new survey that studied both the United States and a corner of southwest Ohio hit particularly hard by job loss.

In a poll commissioned by the American Psychiatric Association and released this week, more than two-thirds of American women reported that the struggling economy has negatively affected their lives or the lives of their loved ones.

In economically distressed Clinton County, where the freight company DHL decided to pull out and move to northern Kentucky, women were found to be more likely to feel stress, frustration, anxiety, irritability or insomnia than women nationally.

Women’s stress levels have heightened since the recession began last fall, the survey found.

The study focused on women because, according to APA President Nada Stotland, they are often the ones in charge of their family’s health, and often tend to put family and other financial responsibilities ahead of their own needs.

“The mother in the household is the person everyone looks to,” Stotland said. “To a large degree she sets the tone or the mood in the household.

“If you have a miserable, depressed, worried, anxious mom in the household, that’s a stressor for everybody.”

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