Earlier this month we told you how New Yorkers were firing their shrinks to save money just when those very shrinks reported witnessing a serious ratcheting up of mania in their patients -- citing "severe symptoms" and "suicidality," to be specific -- attributable to growing to fears that the recession is going to flush your very life down the toilet.
And now we learn from Crain's (via Gawker) that sales of anti-anxiety medications in New York are spiking due to "uncertainties brought on by the financial crisis." Writes Sheila McClear (yes, the same woman who drove up her salary by posting underpanty pictures of herself after she learned of her impending layoff -- so she knows a little something about money troubles), "the prescription spike for anti-depressants and benzos, et al, practically follows the timeline of the financial crisis, starting with the Lehman Brothers collapse in September." What qualifies as a spike in drug terms? An 11 percent increase in sleep aid meds, apparently, and a 9 percent jump in anti-anxiety pills and anti-depressants over the same period in 2007. All of which just sounds like a career-switch opportunity to us! Time to send your résumé to Pfizer.
