Anxiety related to economic situation

[tommycheadle]

Dear Friends,

I've started back into anxiety for the third time in 2 years - I was made redundant twice last year - and could lose my job to redundancy this month.

I've been finding it impossible to think of anything else - very hard to get more than a couple of houes sleep per night - and have lost my appetite.

I'm becoming totally obsessed with the movements of the stock markets and my moods fluctuate with them. Ridiculous but true.

I worry that

I'll become homeless
I'll never work again
I'll be cut off from all those I love
I'll become poor - and live hand to mouth forever

Has anyone else had similar anxiety?

Many people are in my situation - but cope and get on with it all. How do they do it? Why am I different?

Love to all,

Chris xx

[honeybee3939]

Hi Chris

I think most people even those that dont suffer with anxiety related issues have been worried about the last few weeks events that we have heard about on the news. I try not to worry about it and hope all turns out ok. I think the media havent helped they are always full of doom and gloom as we all know. I have stopped watching the news, im going to live for today :) and stop worrying about tomorrow.

Love
:hugs:
Andrea
xxxx

[cedlong]

Hi Chris,

I am so sorry that the economic situation has troubled you like this. I stopped watching TV a long time ago because I felt so down. And I'm a TV editor! The media feeds off bad news. (I don't work in news).I can't say how the economy's going to go, but I know that your health is more important. So, like Honeybee, I'm gonna stay away from watching the news. I hope you can do the same.

Chris

[sheena]

Hi

When it all started a few weeks ago I was obssessed like you. My daily newspaper had all the sensational head lines and I thought oh no we are all doomed.

I have calmed down and instead of buying a newspaper I am reading them on line and just don't read about the credit crunch anymore.

It affected my daughter as the cruise she was going on collapsed. She has managed to get onto another one.

What I find good about all this is that the big supermarkets are competing with each other to cut the cost of food.

Hope you can calm yourself down soon.

Sheena

[Franz]

I'm obsessed with this too. First found out it was going to happen a year ago - part of what triggered my breakdown. Managed more or less to stop thinking about it over the summer, now I can't stop.

Tommy, I'm sorry to hear you've been made redundant twice. I've never been made redundant, but I know the feeling of gloom when redundancies are in the air, which of course is nothing compared to actually losing your job.

Nobody's started talking about redundancies yet in my company but I suspect it's only a matter of time. It's not as though we do anything useful.

In answer to your question: most people are in denial, that's how they cope.

[tommycheadle]

Thanks for your responses.

I've noticed that instead of being top story on the News - this is beginning to slide down the agenda - and is even in danger of disappearing. I'm happy about that.

I got a very strong sense today that actually, despite difficulties, life will go on.

I can still get jittery - but it is calming a little.

Franz - redundancy is pretty awful - but I'm proof that you can come through it. It places all kinds of stresses - but life does go on. Maybe not as we would wish - but it does go on.

Love to all,

Chris xx

[kendo59]

Yes.

I lost my job a year ago, had a breakdown, and now I honestly feel as if I'll never work again. I'm not quite 50 years old yet, and before I lost my job I had my financial future all planned out. Now, my savings have just about dried up, and I'm living on benefits, facing having to sell my house. All my plans have turned to dust. I wish I could find another job, but at my age it won't be easy, and with the depression & anxiety, I'm not sure I could cope anyway. I just don't know where the future is going.

[tommycheadle]

Kendo - I'm sorry to hear of your situation. Your breakdown has left you very shaken and lacking in belief. There is a way forward, and things can get better. I've had my dreams broken back down to nothing several times - I do understand how that feels. You'll be in my thoughts - keep in touch.

Love to all,

Chris xx

[vti2007]

Hi Tommy,

I can totally understand where you are coming from. I work in an industry that is one of the first affected by global events, be it economic events, terrorism or whatever. I have lost my job twice in the last 8 years 'cos of it.

I started to get really worried about what is going on at the moment, which did my anx no good at all but when you really look at it there is a very good reason the story is sliding down the news. Things are not quite as bad as it is being reported. It is another case of Northern Rock I think, in MY opinion that failure was caused, if not engineered, by the press. Same with HBOS etc. There are some very shady people doing some very shady things behind the scenes in the financial markets at the mo to line their own pockets and the
governments have caught on and are stopping it.

People believe what they see on the news and it is not always very accurate, 'cos accurate reporting is boring lol. They will always only report the worst case scenario to prove their point. Example, a couple of months ago the BBC reported that the banks were predicting a 20%+ drop in the housing market. In fact only one bank was and the others had figures between 0 and 4%. I contacted the BBC to ask why they didn't report this and they couldn't give me a decent answer lol wonder why :lac:

I have covered myself this time,just in case, by making sure I have a decent redundancy insurance and I refuse to worry too much about it - 'cos to be blunt - I don't believe it :)