HEALTH-ARGENTINA: Anxiety Invades a Nation in Crisis

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 3 2001 (IPS) - Beatriz Blanco is a middle-class Argentinean, 34, a psychologist, married with two children and relatively well off economically. Nevertheless, she is overcome with anxiety, fears losing her job or that her husband will lose his, and grows depressed thinking about her friends who are leaving the country in search of a better future.

Blanco’s feelings are shared by millions of others in Argentina as they live with a recession that has entered its fourth year, high unemployment and the sensation that education and cultural capital can no longer ensure one’s social status.

In a survey conducted in August by the Ricardo Rouvier polling firm, 93.8 percent of the respondents said they feel anxiety, sadness, depression or bitterness about the country’s social and economic crisis, while just 3.5 percent said they are optimistic that things soon will change for the better.

The poll respondents said the causes behind their malaise, in descending order, are lack of future prospects, fear of losing their jobs, the already high unemployment and poverty rates, and sadness about the increasing number of people leaving the country.

Many of those polled stated that they are depressed “because we have nothing,” “because the politicians are indifferent,” and “because nothing will change.”

The fears related to employment are based on the fact that the number of economically active adults without jobs continues to rise – today reaching 16.4 percent – with under-employment adding another 15 percent, as well as an undetermined percentage of “the discouraged,” who have given up on their search for work.

The poll shows that while anxiety is widespread, it is the middle class that is the most troubled by the possibility of a decline in their living standards. They fear they will no longer be able to afford their children’s private school tuition, pay-per- service medical attention, sports club memberships, clothing purchases and travel.

Blanco, who works at a public health centre as well as maintaining a private practice, told IPS that “at the hospital one sees the most serious effects of the crisis. More middle income people are heading there because they can no longer pay for a private medical services.”

She added that some of the patients she sees in her private practice have told her they can no longer pay her for their mental health treatment.

“The problem is that I rent an office, and the day will come when I can no longer go on if I don’t take in enough money to cover expenses,” said the psychologist. Meanwhile, at the hospital – which she used to consider her “reliable” source of income – the situation is not much better. Salaries are being cut back and are paid late.

The uncertainty about the future of Blanco’s family is only exacerbated by the employment situation of her husband, a graphic designer.

“He was self-employed for a while, but it is very difficult to handle business expenses when you work on your own. Last year, he began working at a big design studio that has important clients, but this month (the executives) have been warning that things are going poorly because many of the clients can no longer pay,” explained Blanco.

RHO, a human resources consultancy in Buenos Aires, recently conducted a survey of Argentina’s 500 largest companies, asking employees about the job-related stress.

The study found that 62 percent of executives and managers are working under a great deal of pressure, and that this percentage “is ostensibly greater” than in previous years.

Hard hit by the recession and the overall decline in consumption, many companies are now operating in an environment of great stress, worry and anxiety, particularly about new difficulties in meeting corporate goals. It is a problem that most often hits the likely scapegoat in the hierarchy: the project manager.

The local Chamber of workers compensation insurance providers reported that this year has seen a sharp rise in heart disease and in stress-induced allergies, hair loss, rashes, ulcers and gastritis.

Furthermore, the economic crisis is believed to trigger or intensify anxiety-related disorders that have remained dormant in an individual during less tense times.

Psychiatrist Daniel Bogiaizián, of the Argentine Association for Anxiety Disorders, outlined for IPS the various manifestations of the ailment arising from on-the-job and economic stress.

“Anxiety related to fear of losing one’s job or the lack of employment is one thing, and quite another is an acute anxiety disturbance. The latter is not related to the economic crisis per se, but the current situation might trigger clinical patterns that had remained hidden,” he explained.

A decline in a person’s standard of living or of consumption levels can be a catalyst for a mental and physical process that may have occurred anyway, Bogiaizián pointed out.

In addition, new situations may trigger a dormant psychological response, he said. For exmaple, an executive who is suddenly given greater responsibility and thrown before a meeting of the board, may begin to show the first symptoms of a phobia.

“The individuals with this sort of anxiety-related ailment used to be able to get by without much difficulty, but now they are increasingly turning to professional help because they are facing demands at work for higher output, or more exposure in front of groups, at conferences and other activities,” said the expert.

On top of the health problems many Argentines face as a result of the local economic situation came a general feeling of insecurity following the Sep 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Psychoanalyst Liliana Canesa said in a conversation with IPS that if someone was already feeling somewhat vulnerable or fragile, the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York may have my have toppled his or her last remaining psychological supports.

Faced with this panorama, public health centres in Argentina that have psychiatric services recently organised an anxiety awareness week, and encouraged people with feelings of distress or fear to seek assistance.

Therapists who provided their services for the event found that a great many people are suffering from sadness and anxiety, though for most the symptoms do not constitute a serious psychological disorder.

“I recognise that I am deeply affected by the fact that many of my close friends are doing the paperwork required to leave the country. The worst is that I have to try to hide my feelings because I know how important it is for them to once again have plans for the future,” commented Blanco.

She added that her emigrating friends, most of whom are fellow professionals, complain that few from their social circle are giving them much encouragement.

“It’s just that you feel a bit abandoned by those who are leaving – and then there is the doubt as to whether emigrating might not be a more courageous alternative than insisting on staying in a country where all the doors are being closed in your face,” she said.