Gilbert Peffer's Profile

Roughly half of the respondents described the recession as a hardship that had caused fundamental changes in their lives

those who have been out of work longer reported experiencing more acute financial and emotional effects.

You’re never your normal happy-go-lucky person. Your countenance, your self-esteem goes. You think, ‘I’m not employable.’

Women were significantly more likely than men to acknowledge emotional issues

Every time I think about money, I shut down because there is none,” Ms. Linville said. “I get major panic attacks. I just don’t know what we’re going to do

men were significantly more likely than women to report feeling ashamed most of the time

Many in the ranks of the unemployed appear to be rethinking their career and life choices

When everything went bad, not that I didn’t have a choice, but it made the choice easie

Among those with a working spouse, half said their spouse had taken on additional hours or another job to help make ends meet

It just feels completely, completely out of my control

She had just begun to dig out from filing for bankruptcy the year before, when she had fallen behind on credit card payments after some unexpectedly large bills

You just get anxious and fearful,” she said. “Some days, you just don’t feel right because there’s this big cloud of uncertainty

I’m going to find something soon,” he said. “I have to. It may not be what I want. If I have to wash dishes, that’s what I’ll do. Hopefully I can do better than that.

I have a lot of confidence that I can find something that will at least slow the bleeding

He has had trouble sleeping because of the stress, saying he is “generally in a depressed state