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Given that in New York, there are approximately 3 psychotherapists for each resident (OK, it just feels like that), the possibility that some shrinks might end up out of work because of the economy seems like a positive Darwinian effect. The not-so-surprising news in today's Wall Street Journal is that because in lean times "mental health care" is sacrificed in favor of general medical care, psychiatrists and psychologists are currently noticing many patients cutting back on both visits and medications.

So while you're now at risk of being stabbed by your schizophrenic neighbor who's gone off his anti-psychotics, what a relief to no longer be subjected to updates on how your best friend's therapist thinks that the memory of the time no one came to pick her up from school has created a fear of abandonment so deep that she drives all men away with her neediness.

Angst Is Rising, but Many Must Forego Therapy [WSJ]