There was a common theme in the stories of many callers at the crisis hotline center, The Listening Ear. A person gets a disease or injury and cannot afford to address it. Their condition worsens and can no longer go to work. They lose their job and fall further into economic impoverishment as their condition worsens still so they become homebound. Now due to the stress they fall into new, or exacerbate existing mental illness. They finally call The Ear, one of the limited resources available to them. While not all of my future patients may end up in these extreme situations, working at The Ear has provided an understanding of how stressful and even debilitating illness can be. Fear and stress can change an individual's behavior and make them
