Mental Health in the Great Depression

Mental Health in the Great Depression The term “mental health” refers to a person’s social, psychological, and emotional wellbeing. Some of the factors that can negatively affect a person’s mental health can be biological (caused by genes or the chemistry of the brain), environmental (caused by trauma or experiences) or due to a person having a history of mental unwellness in their family’s medical history. Poor mental health can negatively influence and have detrimental effects on a person’s life if left untreated. For example, functions such as sleep, appetite, behavior, or emotion can be negatively impacted by poor mental health. Consequently, mental health (much like other types of health) is important to the overall well-being of people (Mentalhealth.gov). A time in history in which the mental health of the American people was affected in mass quantities was during the Great Depression that took place in the 1930’s. According the Richard H. Pells’ article Great Depression, the Great Depression was a “worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939”. During this point in time, many people around the world experienced financial hardships as a result of deflation and unemployment. Although the almost the whole world experienced the effects of the depression, some places were affected more than others. Particularly, the United States and Europe experienced great challenges caused by the Depression (while places like Japan or Latin America were not as impacted) (Pells and Romer, “Great Depression”). The effect that the Great Depression had on Americans was environmental in nature (as opposed to biological). The effect was environmental because it impacted the finances of Americans, thus causing more issues to appear as well. Poor mental health was an effect that was produced by the Depression’s influence on the financial aspect of people’s lives (Mentalhealth.gov). Although the general perception and knowledge of mental health (as well as mental illnesses) in the 1930’s was not necessarily the same as it is in more modern times, these concepts still existed and strongly affected those that were alive during the Great Depression. Some of the consequences that were produced because of the Depression included shame, suicidal actions, and abusive behaviors. Just as much as it is today in modern times, mental health was critical to one’s overall health and well-being, even if the general perception and knowledge of it was not necessarily the exact same (Encyclopedia.com). During the Great Depression of the 1930’s the mental health of Americans was greatly affected. It was reported that during the Great Depression, people belonging to the upper socioeconomical class flocked to psychiatrist's offices in an attempt to cope with the negative psychological effects of the Great Depression. The increase in number of upper-class individuals seeking help for their poor mental health was due to the Great Depression affecting people financially. Before the great depression, many families were financially stable and enjoyed doing the many leisure time activities that their increased wealth allowed them to partake in. Additionally, many families had become accustomed to having luxuries that they did not previously have. When the Great Depression hit, many families lost their financial stability and thus could not upkeep their nicer lifestyles. Consequently, their inability to maintain their previous lifestyles had a significant effect on every family member's mental health, regardless of if they were old or young (Encyclopedia.com). Due to the easier access to nicer lifestyles in the 1920’s, many American families put their self-worth into their material possessions. As a result of the Depression, many families were no longer able to hold onto their monetary wealth and thus lost the things that they associated with their self-worth. Many Americans were no longer able to obtain or upkeep the newest, nicest products or maintain their lifestyles. Even the families that were not as monetarily lacking as other families still experienced more of a limit on the amount of money, they were able to spend on their lifestyles. Most families were ashamed of having to ask for financial help during the midst of the Great Depression when in the time before the Depression, they did not have to worry about matters such as their finances. The shame they felt at struggling or having to ask for help during the Great Depression played a part in significantly impacting their lives and mental health (Encyclopedia.com). The Great Depression was difficult for all types of people, regardless of whether they were men, women, or children. Many traditional family roles were challenged and turned upside down when women (and sometimes children) had to go out into the workforce, in addition to the men in their families, just to make ends meet. On the other hand, sometimes men were the ones unable to find work and thus could not support their families (causing gender roles to be flipped when the women in their families were able to find work instead). For men that were no longer able to be the top earners of their families, their mental health was sometimes affected due to their bruised self-images and inability to live up to society’s ideal of what a man should be like. According to studies conducted by sociologist Mirra Komarovsky, for her book The Unemployed Man and His Family (1940), it was discovered that men who were unable to find adequate work suffered from impotence. The impotence experienced by some men during this time seems to correlate with the lower birthrates that happened during the Great Depression. Many men felt helpless and turned to destructive behavior to cope with their feelings of inadequacy. Due to their tendency of resorting to destructive behavior, there was an increase in domestic violence and the abuse of children. As a result, women, and children sometimes experienced additional negative impacts to their mental health, not only from the poor economy, but also because of the abuse they had to endure (Encyclopedia.com). While myths about suicide rates during the Depression are sometimes exaggerated, it was still true that suicides rate did experience an increase during the beginning of the Great Depression (Encyclopedia.com). The total increase in the suicide rate between 1928 and 1932 was reported to be about 30 percent (ThomasSchools.org). Additionally, the suicide rate in the United States increased from about 13.9 per 100,000 to 17.4 per 100,000. (Encyclopedia.com) Although the suicide rate increased during the late twenties and early thirties, there were factors later in the 1930’s that helped to alleviate the poor mental health being experienced by Americans (Encyclopedia.com). Although the early part of the decade was filled with stress from financial burdens, there were factors that helped ease these burdens during the other part of the 1930’s. One example of relief was the New Deal created by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The creation of the New Deal correlated with an ease of the negative impact that the Great Depression had upon mental health. With the arrival of the New Deal programs, many Americans came to an understanding that their financial shortcomings were not due to their own failures but were due to the failures of society and the economy (Encyclopedia.com). In addition to relief programs created by Roosevelt’s New Deal, there were other factors that helped to alleviate the poor mental health that was being experienced by Americans during the Great Depression. One of the factors was the entertainment industry. By creating an escape from the harsh realties of financial burdens that many Americans faced, entertainers were able to help improve mental health (Encyclopedia.com). During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, many Americans (even those that comparably possessed more wealth) faced financial hardships that consequently caused harm to their mental health. Many suffered from feelings of shame, inadequacy, stress, and feelings of suicidal ideation. Particularly, there was an increase in the suicide rate and a decrease in the birthrate during the Great Depression that was due, in part, by the financial burdens that were plaguing Americans. Although the beginning of the decade seemed bleak for Americans and the health of their mental states, the emergence of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and the entertainment industry helped to alleviate some of the issues that were harming American’s mental health (Encyclopedia.com).