Fear Grips Many American Workers
By Ted Landphair
Voice of America News
Washington, D.C.
23 February 2009
In a recent Gallup poll, 64 percent - almost two-thirds - of American workers described themselves as struggling or suffering due to the stresses of the current economic recession.
And on the latest American Psychiatric Association Stress in America survey, almost half of American workers said they fret about their ability to provide for their families' basic needs. Not surprisingly, many workers say they are overeating or drinking and smoking more as they try to cope with their silent stress.
Psychiatrist Judith Orloff at the University of California at Los Angeles has written a timely book called Emotional Freedom that deals directly with Americans' economic fears. In it, she argues that dread can actually be turned into a positive. In fact, she says people can draw courage from financial misfortune - in her words - much like you'd flip on a light switch.
First, Dr. Orloff advises worried workers to focus not on vague fears, but on the specific thing that most concerns them - and then confront it. The known, she says, is rarely as scary as the unknown.
Dr. Orloff advises people who are quietly panicking to avoid caffeine, sugar and other stimulants that drain energy, speed up the pulse and worsen feelings of fear.
She advises worried people to surround themselves with upbeat, positive optimists and avoid doomsayers. Then, she says, they should take small, positive steps of their own that make them feel good about themselves. Calling a credit card company and negotiating smaller payments, for instance.
In her new book, Orloff tells stressed individuals to, as she puts it, stay in the 'now' rather than obsessing about some imagined catastrophic future.
These remedies are all easier said than done, of course. But the author insists that fear can be turned into courage.
Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life is published by Harmony Books.
About Judith Orloff, MD
Judith Orloff M.D., author of the New York Times bestseller"Emotional Freedom", is featured regularly in print, broadcast, and online media. Her unique and sought-after guidelines on how to recapture and affirm our energy, emotional wellness, and intuition have helped people worldwide to heal. Dr. Orloff's work has been featured in O Magazine, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, Self, Cosmo, The Washington Times, and the New York Post. She has appeared on The Today Show, The Dr. Oz Show, Good Morning America Health, CBS Early Show, CNN, PBS, and NPR. Dr. Orloff's work is featured on Beliefnet.com, iVillage, WebMD, AOL Health, and she is a blogger for the The Huffington Post and Psychology Today. Her national public television special “Emotional Freedom Now!” is based on her book “Emotional Freedom.”
