How unemployment can affect our mental health

Belinda, 58, worked as a program manager for decades until she was fired in 2022. When she tried to re-enter the workforce after taking time off to care for her ailing father, she hit a brick wall.

Despite applying for jobs for about six months, Belinda received no offers – even for positions that didn’t require a college degree.

Thanks to good planning and the help of family members, she was able to stay afloat financially. But the process “took my ego and just ripped it to shreds,” said Belinda, who asked that only her first name be used for fear of hurting her future job prospects. Now she’s afraid when people ask how her job search is going. “It’s hard when everyone you know is working and you aren’t,” she said.

While losing a job can be financially devastating, it also takes a psychological toll. Studies have found that unemployment can lead to depression, anxiety, increased marital conflict and a greater risk of substance use problems. More and more people like Belinda are experiencing long-term unemployment – the latest US jobs report found that the proportion of unemployed people who had been out of work for more than six months rose to almost 26 percent, the highest proportion in over three years. (Due to the government shutdown, the latest report uses data from August.)

Mass layoffs, such as those recently at UPS, Amazon and GM, are also making headlines. But the emotional impact of job loss is “a major crisis that doesn’t get much attention,” said Ofer Sharone, a sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who studies long-term unemployment.

We have with Dr. Sharone and other experts discussed how to deal with the emotional impact of job loss.

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