The Valentine’s Day Job Losses: Repercussions for Mental Health

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

“I use the word ‘love’ here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.” - James Baldwin, 1962

They were not like the Valentine’s Day Massacres in 1929, when 7 members of Bugs Moran’s gang were shot down in Chicago, likely by Al Capone’s gang.

They also were not as anguishing as the Parkland School mass shootings 7 years ago, when 17 students and staff were shot dead on Valentine’s Day.

But last Friday, mass job losses started across multiple federal agencies. Most often, they seemed to be called layoffs rather than firings. In contrast to “You’re Fired,” layoffs refer to temporary or permanent termination of employment which are unrelated to the job performance invoked in firing. Causes of layoffs are said to be for cost control, business changes, or administrative reasons. Often, layoffs are done without a lot of notice. Firing has to do with production, but many let go have complained about inappropriate performance reasons. If so, that could adversely influence future job prospects. Some proactively resign, as do some on ethical and moral principle.

The ramifications can go all the way up Maslow’s hierarchy of psychological needs: reductions of a sense of safety and security; belonging; self-esteem; and self-actualization. Full-blown psychiatric disorders like major depressive disorder and self-harm, even suicide, are also more likely.¹ Symptoms of anxiety, resentment, and animosity are common. Marriages are at risk.

Even those retained are not free of harm. Survivor guilt about coming out well for no obvious reason often leads to guilt as well as distrust and anxiety of rate future, and grief for the loss of colleagues.

Though data is missing, I would assume that being laid off by one’s own government is even worse, leaving a feeling of betrayal. As President Lincoln, a Republican of his time, said in his Gettysburg Address, our democracy is supposed to be “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Government layoffs by sudden fiat do not meet that definition.

Although layoffs often harm health and mental health, thousands were laid off at federal health care jobs, the very individuals needed to help those laid off! The VA is included. It is not clear if anything is being provided to help with the mental health coping during the layoffs.

This is where we come in, organizationally and individually. Let’s show our love by being part of the public discussions, with compassionate pushbacks and resources to help.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

Reference

1. Janna L, Moustgaard H, Martikanen P. Current unemployment, unemployment history, and mental health: a fixed-effects model approach. Am J Epidemiol. 2022;191(8):1459-1469.