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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview with Anie Kalayjian

Aired December 13, 2003 - 07:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Even though the unemployment rate has been dropping in recent weeks, there are still millions of people who are out of work. And that can be especially tough during the holiday season.
So how do you cope? Here to talk about that is Anie Kalayjian. She's a psychology professor at Fordham University.

Dr. Kalayjian, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate your time.

ANIE KALAYJIAN, PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: Thank you. Thank you for having me here.

SAN MIGUEL: It is not just the person who has been laid off, but it's also the family that can be affected as well, right?

KALAYJIAN: Oh, absolutely. It all depends what kind of meaning and how you appraise the situation. If you have put all your fulfillment, life fulfillment, in the employment, such as, of course, the monetary financial need, social connections, the, let's say, meaningfulness in life, creativity, then you're going to suffer tremendously.

SAN MIGUEL: But that is a natural thing to do, right, is to value yourself through your job, to basically have, you know, your self defined through what you do for a living?

KALAYJIAN: No, that's a capitalistic, actually, way of looking at it. It would be better, it would be much better to look at it as something you contribute to life. And there are many ways that we contribute things in life, such as through our families, through our friends, through our voluntary community work and global international work.

SAN MIGUEL: So is the key here of trying to find a reason to celebrate in the first place? You know, have any of your patients here, you know, found any kind of solace in Christmas or in their faith or, you know, in the season kind of putting things in perspective for them?

KALAYJIAN: Yes, this is the time for us to put things in perspective, especially when there is an unemployment. W e have to find out what it is that we have invested in this employment, and how do we feel with the unemployment? Do we feel rejected? Do we feel like this is the end of the world for us?

Then you have to shift the meaning and refocus, because that's when you -- your depression would be severe, when you have this kind of meaninglessness, and you have nothing else that you look for in life.

SAN MIGUEL: To battle that, you urge your patients to be creative when seeking support. What do you mean by that?

KALAYJIAN: Yes. I mean by trying to find out how they can be without attaching that to doing something, or earning money. By that, I mean volunteering, by that, I mean creating something that you didn't have time to do, with employment, for example. We don't have to do the little things. Maybe preparing a photo album, the photos that you -- it's been sitting on your desk for months, and you don't know what to do with them.

Maybe you want to put your photos on a CD, maybe you want to read a book. I have several books I can recommend.

But this is the time to explore ways that you can do things other than your employment. You can give to humanity in a different way.

SAN MIGUEL: But, I mean, do you also, you know, counsel your patients to work on the employment situation at that time as well, maybe get retrained in a particular area that folks had -- didn't feel they have the skill in? Or do some networking as well?

KALAYJIAN: Of course, of course. That is much, much, much important to be proactive and to really try to do something beforehand, before even the unemployment. One needs to think about saving for that time if one is unemployed, because the research shows that if one has saved money, they are less depressed. And then those unemployed who do not have any savings to fall back on.

So proactivity and planning ahead of time is much important. So this is the time that you can start retraining. You can start reading, you can do online courses. And you can try to do other giving way, like community volunteer work, children's centers, orphanages, old age homes, and such.

SAN MIGUEL: Just to look for some kind of meaning in the season while you have the time to, I guess, do that.

KALAYJIAN: Yes.

SAN MIGUEL: Dr. Anie Kalayjian of Fordham University, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate you joining us this morning.

KALAYJIAN: Thank you for having me. Have a good day.

SAN MIGUEL: You too.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 13, 2003 - 07:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Even though the unemployment rate has been dropping in recent weeks, there are still millions of people who are out of work. And that can be especially tough during the holiday season.
So how do you cope? Here to talk about that is Anie Kalayjian. She's a psychology professor at Fordham University.

Dr. Kalayjian, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate your time.

ANIE KALAYJIAN, PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: Thank you. Thank you for having me here.

SAN MIGUEL: It is not just the person who has been laid off, but it's also the family that can be affected as well, right?

KALAYJIAN: Oh, absolutely. It all depends what kind of meaning and how you appraise the situation. If you have put all your fulfillment, life fulfillment, in the employment, such as, of course, the monetary financial need, social connections, the, let's say, meaningfulness in life, creativity, then you're going to suffer tremendously.

SAN MIGUEL: But that is a natural thing to do, right, is to value yourself through your job, to basically have, you know, your self defined through what you do for a living?

KALAYJIAN: No, that's a capitalistic, actually, way of looking at it. It would be better, it would be much better to look at it as something you contribute to life. And there are many ways that we contribute things in life, such as through our families, through our friends, through our voluntary community work and global international work.

SAN MIGUEL: So is the key here of trying to find a reason to celebrate in the first place? You know, have any of your patients here, you know, found any kind of solace in Christmas or in their faith or, you know, in the season kind of putting things in perspective for them?

KALAYJIAN: Yes, this is the time for us to put things in perspective, especially when there is an unemployment. W e have to find out what it is that we have invested in this employment, and how do we feel with the unemployment? Do we feel rejected? Do we feel like this is the end of the world for us?

Then you have to shift the meaning and refocus, because that's when you -- your depression would be severe, when you have this kind of meaninglessness, and you have nothing else that you look for in life.

SAN MIGUEL: To battle that, you urge your patients to be creative when seeking support. What do you mean by that?

KALAYJIAN: Yes. I mean by trying to find out how they can be without attaching that to doing something, or earning money. By that, I mean volunteering, by that, I mean creating something that you didn't have time to do, with employment, for example. We don't have to do the little things. Maybe preparing a photo album, the photos that you -- it's been sitting on your desk for months, and you don't know what to do with them.

Maybe you want to put your photos on a CD, maybe you want to read a book. I have several books I can recommend.

But this is the time to explore ways that you can do things other than your employment. You can give to humanity in a different way.

SAN MIGUEL: But, I mean, do you also, you know, counsel your patients to work on the employment situation at that time as well, maybe get retrained in a particular area that folks had -- didn't feel they have the skill in? Or do some networking as well?

KALAYJIAN: Of course, of course. That is much, much, much important to be proactive and to really try to do something beforehand, before even the unemployment. One needs to think about saving for that time if one is unemployed, because the research shows that if one has saved money, they are less depressed. And then those unemployed who do not have any savings to fall back on.

So proactivity and planning ahead of time is much important. So this is the time that you can start retraining. You can start reading, you can do online courses. And you can try to do other giving way, like community volunteer work, children's centers, orphanages, old age homes, and such.

SAN MIGUEL: Just to look for some kind of meaning in the season while you have the time to, I guess, do that.

KALAYJIAN: Yes.

SAN MIGUEL: Dr. Anie Kalayjian of Fordham University, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate you joining us this morning.

KALAYJIAN: Thank you for having me. Have a good day.

SAN MIGUEL: You too.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com