Bear Stearns Hires Trauma Counselors

Bear Stearns will provide grief counseling for employees facing decimated stock holdings, and the possible loss of their jobs, after the bank's sale to JP Morgan, ABC News reports. "Anything that effects human behavior or emotions at work are the areas where we focus," says one such professional. An average Bear employee who had $200,00 in company stock now has only $2,000.

"I have participated in mergers in the past and I've witnessed a reaction very similar to that found in people grieving the loss of a loved one," says a psychologist. The support staff at the bottom of the company's hierarchy will be most affected, both financially and psychologically, ABC adds. (More Bear Stearns stories.)