Unemployed? Keep Depression at Bay
By
Therese Borchard
The unemployment rate has skyrocketed to approximately 10 percent, and it is forecasted to stay above 9.5 percent for the rest of 2010. For the first time in American history, more women are working than men because close to 80 percent of the people laid off in the recent recession were men.
According to a recent study published in the "International Journal of Epidemiology," unemployment is a major risk factor for depression, even in people without previous vulnerability. Because my husband is an architect whose work has slowed down substantially with the collapse of the housing market, I have a vested interest in this topic and wanted to know what I could do to help him stay physically and emotionally healthy, since, theoretically, one of us should be. Here, then, are 12 steps to bust your depression when you're unemployed.
Therese J. Borchard writes the Beyond Blue blog on Beliefnet. Her new book, also called Beyond Blue, has just been published.