Foreclosures putting a strain on both body and mind

Recently an unemployed fifty one year old Ethelda Lopez, stood silently witnessing the auctioning off of her house. Her retirement dreams vanished outside the court in downtown Merced. For six months she had tried without success to contact mortgage firms, government officials and local political bigwigs begging them to lower monthly payments or allow her a grace period.

Overcome with anxiety she is now depressed – reluctant to renew social contacts. It seemed humiliating to tell others that she had lost her stucco ranch house in the country side of Atwater. All Lopez could do was cry while struggling to sleep. She would never want anything like this to happen to others.

Lopez’s story is a repeat of what is happening to two dozen others who had converged at Merced Sun-Star for a four week event that targets to investigate the mental and other related health problems arising from the foreclosure crisis. There are a motley collection of residents coming from all walks of life caught up in this crisis – owners of residential houses, tenants and even the realtors. Stress and depression is stalking them and the sad thing is that they are overcome by a sense of shame to come out and seek help.

This aspect from the consequences of foreclosures remains hidden. As such it is being neglected even while Merced County is threatened with more slashes in mental health facilities. Countless of new houses had mushroomed along the countryside during the previous five years raising hopes for a sparkling new future. But the dreams of security evaporated leaving behind nightmares in shattered minds.

Today the reality is whether to fight and pay on for worthless homes or to walk away admitting defeat.

In California Merced County stood first in foreclosure rankings and 6^th worst foreclosed county across USA. Without break regular auctions are held right through the week with realtors bidding for foreclosed units.

the human side of the catastrophe is now showing up with swaths of people overcome by debt, spending nights without sleep surrendering to anxiety and depression. Their despair may not be clinically compared to tests made on soldiers but the reality is there sans the measuring yardstick.

Some are reaching out and also trying to cure themselves, but many more are finding refuge in violence, alcohol, suicidal tendencies and other attendant evils that accompany evil times.