Losing a job takes its toll

Greg Aghoian has not been able to find work in several months, and the level of frustration overwhelms him at times.

"The frustration sometimes is unbearable," he said.

Last summer, the downturn in the economy forced Aghoian to close the small collections business he owned for 26 years, and he's been looking for a job ever since. The long, drawn out search is taking an emotional toll.

"The frustration sometimes is unbearable," he said.

Aghoin wonders when the Bay area's double-digit unemployment rate will drop and, like many other job seekers, deals daily with anxiety.

A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that almost half of the unemployed people they surveyed have suffered from depression or anxiety.

Mental health counselor David Thomas of Tampa says the longer you're unemployed the more it wears on you.

"The thinking that gets us into trouble is the irrational thinking," he said.

Thomas says when people lose their jobs they often jump right into the what ifs: "What if I can't find a job? What if I don't have enough money to pay my bills?" he said.

That anxiety and worry can get in the way of solving what, in psychological terms, is really a practical problem: finding work.

"I think people tend to catastrophize and awfulize. We know it's a mole hill but is it a mountain?"

In Aghoin's case, being unemployed deeply affected how he feels about himself.

"I have people say, man, you used to be such a fun guy, this comes from women mostly, but they don't realize how important it is for a man to carry his own weight. To provide, to be the hunter, gatherer that's what we need to be, so when we can't do that, it's hard."

Thomas, the mental health counselor, says people need to remember that their emotions are created by their thinking.

"The more you can focus on the practical problem, and really keep the emotions at check, you'll do much better," Thomas said.