BLOOMINGTON - Counseling professionals in the Twin Cities say getting stressed out by the nation's economic crisis won't help individuals change the big picture.

But news of stock market gyrations, congressional wrangling over a multibillion-dollar bailout and retirement plans hemorrhaging money have people worried.

"Most people are feeling the effect" of the national panic, said Chris Cashen, a licensed clinical professional counselor at Carle Clinic in Bloomington. "Especially in a community like Bloomington-Normal where many people have some sort of 401(k)" retirement plan or something similar.

"They are worried about that distant future," Cashen said.

Counselors encourage people facing anxiety over the crisis - and their pocketbooks - to take a step back, reassess what they can control in their lives, and not to make rash decisions.

The nebulous nature of this finance crisis makes it somewhat difficult for many everyday Americans to grasp, Cashen said.

"Most of us aren't economists," he said. "We don't understand what recession/depression/meltdown really means. All we see is a dark cloud."

The counselor advised against repeatedly looking at the market changes on a retirement savings plan, and he said overexposure to cable television assessments of the crisis also can make things worse. Keep informed, but do other things too, including eating right, getting enough sleep and exercise, he said.

"It's like being slapped in the face. … You're being retraumatized," he said.

He said he is seeing in clients the same general sense of malaise that he saw following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"People want to know what they can do," he said.

Anorrah Moorman, a licensed psychologist, offered similar advice.

"When we get overwhelmed, by whatever situation, it's important to step back and prioritize," she said. Worried people can ask, "But what am I in control of?"

Given assumptions about the financial outlook, adults could begin by analyzing home budgets, Moorman said. The outlook for obtaining credit is narrowing, and that might be something to consider for long-term planning, for example, she said.

Someone might need to rearrange plans for a later retirement, or families might consider pushing back an expensive vacation.

Student concerns

Moorman, who heads Illinois Wesleyan University counseling services, said college students are curious about the crisis, but her office hasn't seen an increase in students' stressed by the topic.

About 100 students, faculty and staff filled the Hansen Student Center lounge for a Tuesday afternoon forum on the economic crisis. IWU professors Jin Park and Diego Mendez-Cabajo led a question-and-answer session about the subprime mortgage scandal, the U.S. House of Representatives bailout vote and other issues.

"They (students) definitely have a curiosity about what's going on," Moorman said.

She said the crisis may not affect them directly now because they are buffered by the campus experience. But next spring when older students enter the job market, seek internships and graduate school loans the trickle down could reach them.