Economy contributing to abuse hotline calls

10:02 PM CDT on Sunday, March 22, 2009
By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News
debdennis@dallasnews.com

At SafeHaven Tarrant County, the phone lines are jumping with calls these days. Most are queries about the domestic abuse agency’s services. Others are hysterical calls from battered spouses in fear for their lives.
SafeHave n received 23,080 calls in 2007. That figure jumped to 41,774 in 2008.
The faltering economy, said agency officials, is a big reason for the bump. Increased job losses, bankruptcies and foreclosures all contribute to higher domestic violence.

I figured it would be only a matter of time before this headline made its way into the news. Any psychologist would tell you that as times get harder the abuse factor also goes up! This sort of thing is also far more prevalent among the poor who have no financial safety net to fall back on. As the times get harder the ranks of the poor will increase and so will the abuse. This goes hand in hand with the national increase in medication for stress, depression, insomnia, fatigue, etc., etc. Just take a look at this AARP Bulletin: Mental stress spirals with economy

The headlines of sudden violent acts has in fact been increasing. You have only to look at the news and weekly there are reports of some individual killing his family because he lost his job. There have been several in the past months that have garnered national attention.
These sort of headlines actually come hand in hand with the deteriorating economy and will continue to do so. No doubt once the economy begins to get better there will be a high rate of addiction related problems as the aftermath of the economic crisis.

Tags: AARP, Bankruptcy, Battered Spouses, DEBRA DENNIS, Domestic Violence, Foreclosures, Hard times, Job Losses, Mental Stress, Poor, SafeHaven, Tarrant County, Texas, The Dallas Morning News