Italian scientists highlight the links between unemployment and mental
health.
Losing a job
associates to the onset of psychological disorders. Unemployment, in
particular, seems related to suicide risk along direct and indirect pathways.
Losing oneีs
employment, indeed, implies the loss of social contact and activity, and often
leads to the severing of social ties, increasing the risk of depression and
subsequent suicide.
Financial
difficulties and the curtailment of social relationships make unemployed people
less able to return the resources they get from the others in any form. The
risk of depleted sociality ensuing from unemployment is thus a severe threat to
survival, well and beyond its financial impact.
Investing in
mental health care, as well as giving priority to the curbing of unemployment
rates, should therefore become first-line actions for governments and
communities in the effort to improve the quality of life and the life
satisfaction of individuals, their families, and the society as a whole.
References:
Antonio
Preti, Paola Miotto
Suicide, unemployment and
social capital
Eukrasia, 2004; 5: 49-56
Contacts:
Dr Antonio Preti
SchizophreniaProject
e-mail: apreti@tin.it