
Media have played a key- role in this process, by systematically focusing on threatening and destabilizing financial effects, and neglecting the humanitarian aspect of the crisis in problems such as poverty, unemployment, health institutions’ inaccessibility and suicide, which were covered instead in a highly dramatized manner, without any connections to the wider socio-economic context. At the same time, initiatives and collectivities (NGOs, church, neighborhood etc) formed to relieve pain and pressure created by the crisis were rarely mentioned, thus contributing to citizens’ deadlock feeling.
It is worth noting, however, that there were some differentiations in the research results, depending on the individual’s gender and age group. Men – considered probably as the main family bread earners- generally showed more hopelessness than women. When it comes to the age group, the youngest and the oldest citizens (18-24 and 55-70) recorded the highest levels of political efficacy.

The younger individuals tried to seek new political action repertoires, while the older individuals felt more resilient, perhaps due to past experiences of recovery from sociopolitical distress. On the other hand, the middle aged citizens (25-44) appeared puzzled in terms of political efficacy not knowing who and in what to trust – thus, preferring to invest on personal goals and interpersonal relationships.
Last but not least, another factor that is believed to have played a role in the psychological effects of the crisis was the individual’s social position. The most vulnerable citizens were those who were already at a disadvantageous position at the beginning of the crisis and thus, were immediately affected.
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