Foreclosures Telling On the Mental Health of Americans

Slowly but surely the social damage being done to the nation by foreclosures is filtering through behind the focus on the economic issues. Foreclosures are telling on the mental health of the Americans – young and old.

Recently Karthik Rajaram living in Los Angeles murdered his family last Monday 6th October, before killing himself. The reason was financial ruin. This is the most recent and acute case of a wave of mental distress and agony affecting the psyche of the average American. Rajaram, aged 45, was by profession a financial advisor. In his suicide note he said that his financial condition had left him with no other option to but take the lives of his wife, three children and mother-in-law.

The foreclosure crisis is sharply rattling the emotional well being of the average man in the streets. There is no end to the list of worries – loss of house, loss of job, rising costs of essentials and plunging stocks. It has set off a chain of mental health problems. Not everyone is equipped to take up the challenge. Some crumble. Others despair. Many turn violent and take to artificial boosters. All tell on the general health of the society that cannot be counted by numbers and percentages.

Richard Chaifetz of ComPsych Copr based in Chicago said, “The closest I have seen to this in the last 10 to 12 years is the spike after 9/11.But this is much more geographically dispersed and is not going to get better in a month.”

Rich Paul of ValueOptions based in Virginia deals with mental health cases. He opined that stress and tensions connected to foreclosure related financial problems have increased by as much as 200% in California during the past twelve months.

Dr. Mason Turner of Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco, noted that the number of psychiatric admissions in his hospital had increased by four times in August. About 60% of the patients complained of financial worries connected with foreclosures.

Stockton can be called the foreclosure capital of not only California but of the entire country. Maria Tabios is a health counselor here. She said that over a third of the cases that come to her are related to foreclosures. A foreclosure is not something isolated – it spills over to all aspects of life and other family members. She said, “They are falling behind in their house payments because of bad loans, so they begin fighting and blaming each other. Some resort to drinking. It’s a domino effect.”