Losing Job Or Unemployment |
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Losing a job is one of the most powerful stressors, considered by many experts to be second stress-wise only to bereavement, to which it can be compared in a number of ways. The pattern of reaction to losing a job is markedly similar to the various stages most people go through following the death of someone close to them: an initial reaction of numbed shock, disbelief, and frequently anger, followed by a period of lethargy and inertia; then, if unemployment is prolonged, a state of passive acceptance, with feelings of loss of identity, before, hopefully, coming to terms with the situation either through finding a new job or some satisfying and fulfilling alternative.
Losing a job can often involve acute financial stress if the person affected has major commitments - a mortgage and school fees, for example. It also means losing the framework within which a working life is structured, together with the network of contacts outside the home which most jobs involve, and the feeling of identity associated with the job. It can cause severe stresses and strains within marriage and family life generally, and strong feelings of personal inadequacy.
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