Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said it all when he told a congressional committee that the sticky problems related to the financial crisis is more in the realm of psychology than economics. Investor panic behavior as they rush out of the market can be compared to crowd behavior in a theater on fire. But that’s just the macro view. The micro view is more devastating.
The serious impact of the financial crisis on mental health was impressed upon me over lunch last Sunday at Barcino, a Spanish restaurant and wine store in Valle Verde, by Dr. Ricky Soler, a non practicing psychiatrist. I also came across an article on the Internet about how financial advisers and private bankers of moneyed individuals have become de facto psychological therapists of their clients “who are going crazy over their losses” in the past weeks.
One such item on HealthDay News reports Wall Street’s roller coaster ride is costing Americans more than money: It’s costing them sleepless nights and a heap of emotional distress, experts say. “People are anxious, and they are more anxious if they are nearer retirement age,” said Linda Rosenberg, president of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, in Washington, DC.
“When people get anxious. . . it begins to affect the whole family. There are marital fights over ‘What do we do now?’ Kids get involved when parents are fighting and have their own emotional upset.” The uncertainty of even top leaders not knowing when the situation is going to be fixed, not to mention the lack of control many people feel, is only aggravating the matter.
Dr. Ricky figures the “high net worths” who suffer depression because they lost a bundle on Lehman notes can most likely afford a psychiatrist to help them. Dr. Ricky was more worried about how the financial crisis will impact on our OFWs who will lose their jobs as their employers suffer from the downturn. They need professional assistance but do not know where to go nor do they have the means to seek professional help. Our government, Dr. Ricky rued, has done little to care for the mental health of our OFWs, financial crisis or not.
Take Hong Kong for example, Dr. Ricky pointed out. There are some 150,000 OFWs there, mostly domestics who have all sorts of psychological problems. You would think, Dr. Ricky said, OWWA with all the money OFWs contribute to it would have a visible program to help our troubled maids in time of need. Dr. Ricky laments that OWWA has left our OFWs on their own. He has not heard of an OWWA program that would give them access to a professional counselor or even a hot line where they can talk things over.
Severe depression is a serious malady, Dr. Ricky explains. It afflicts the rich tycoons as well as our domestic OFWs. In the case of our OFWs, the loneliness of a foreign environment, separation from loved ones, their economic hardship and sometimes the cruelty of the foreign employer all add up to bring about a severe case of depression. Dr. Ricky explains that clinical depression is more than just sadness or homesickness. It is something that a trained psychiatrist should deal with and not left to develop into a life threatening situation.
Dr. Ricky thinks the cases of suicide among our OFWs are under reported. It is easy to report a maid falling from her employer’s high rise apartment as an accident. He said he has followed up on a few of these cases by talking to the employer and friends of the victims and he is convinced that in many cases, suicide is the more probable cause of death.
This is why Dr. Ricky works with the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation, whose sole mission is to disseminate as much information about depression as is currently available to as many people as possible. The moving force behind the foundation is Jeannie Goulbourn, who knows how devastating depression can be when she lost her daughter Natasha who suffered from it. Now, her life’s mission is to spare others from the pain she experienced.
Hence, this goal of educating the public on what depression is all about. Jeannie and Dr. Ricky work on the premise that knowing what depression is forms the first and most important step in managing it. In effect, if we learn it is not an insanity nor a form of personal weakness or failing in an individual but rather a disease like diabetes or TV, we remove the social stigma attached to it. Many people, rich and poor, are embarrassed to admit being depressed and suffer it silently until it overwhelms them into doing something unthinkable.
The statistics are unreliable, Dr. Ricky says, but he thinks that as many as 700 in our population of 150,000 OFWs in Hong Kong attempt suicide out of sheer depression every year. This is why the foundation is launching a new program directed at the OFWs in Hong Kong who are at high risk for depression. The foundation will have Dr. Cornelio Banaag, chair of Medical City’s Psychiatry Dept and leading clinical psychologist Dr. Honey Carandang, deliver lectures on Sunday, Oct. 26 at the Bayanihan Center in Kennedy Towne in Hong Kong.
Additionally, the foundation is working with the In Touch crisis center, a volunteer group which takes calls from people in need of critical support. The crisis center will make available toll free calls that OFWs in Hong Kong can make when they need help. The toll free number is 1 800 1013 65448 and that is available 24/7.
In support of its mission to disseminate information on depression, the Foundation has also brought into the country two foreign experts to lecture on the condition before groups of medical professionals and laymen. The first, in 2007, was Dr. Peter Gruenwald, a German integrative physician who practices in the UK where he is highly respected. He developed an effective non-drug treatment modality for depression called HeartSphere which is growing in popularity. The other one who recently gave a total of five lectures in Cebu and Manila, was Dr. David Spiegel, a most celebrated and eminent American psychiatrist from Stanford Medical School who had a total combined audience of 1,700 doctors and lay people.
Depression could be a life and death emergency, Dr. Ricky warns, and an economic crisis is a strong trigger. People must be made aware that there are things they can do to deal with it… and desperate as they may feel, there are options available short of ending it all.
Mail box
I received this e-mail from Fidel Bugayong.
I read with interest your column today. I would like to add my own suggestion to Gov. J. Salceda’s countermeasures.
1. CAMEL ratings of banks and non-banks should be disclosed publicly or shown inside the premises of the banks including all branches. A simpler disclosure with regards the bank’s conditions would significantly improve market discipline. With the complex accounting standards, and the sophisticated way of window dressing, who cares about the financial statements of banks.
CAMEL refers to C- capital adequacy; A-asset quality; M- management ; E -efficiency L- liquidity. five being the highest meaning a well manged bank, three being average and two and below a questionable bank. This rating is given by the BSP to banks after the regular annual examination by BSP examiners. Just like in restaurants in the states, the rating is posted on the doors of restaurants so that customers will know whether they are eating in a clean restaurant or not so.
2. Enforcement of the Prompt Corrective Action in the case of failing banks is one that creates problems for the regulators, specially when the owners of banks have political back-up. This is due mainly because board members of both BSP and PDIC are appointed by Malacañang. To balance the equation of influence, there should be equal representation from the opposition, just like at the FDIC.
Lehman Brothers
This one’s from a late night talk show.
“Asked if he had anything to say about the demise of Lehman Brothers… George W. Bush said he is saddened by the news and his thoughts at this time go out to their mother because losing one son is hard but losing two is a tragedy beyond grief.”
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com