Unemployment scares me. And in this economy, just about everyone is a little jittery. It’s one thing when you are 23 and don’t have a mortgage, spouse and kids who need braces. It’s quite another when you are mid-career, accustomed to $20 co-pays at the doctor’s office and suddenly realize that without insurance your medications — or, God forbid, your child’s medications — cost more than your mortgage.

Then there is the car payment, $4-a-gallon gas, saving for college, tires for the car, cellphone and your DSL line. If you are lucky you will be able to stop the gerbils running in their little wheels inside your head long enough to get a full night’s sleep.

If you have depression, bipolar disorder or any mental illness, fear about losing a job very likely will make you sick. If you do not have any mental illness, this kind of stress can trigger “situational” depression. A situational depression does not necessarily mean a lifetime of medication or therapy, but it is depression and can make you very sick.

It sneaks up on you. You get angry more often and it comes out sideways. You lose or gain weight. You can’t sleep. You drink more. Thoughts race. Your heart pounds. You feel helpless.

There is help. You have to want it and you have to work at getting it. But even if the worst comes true you will feel better knowing you have done all that you can. More important, if you do fall into a serious depression, you will have taken care of some loose ends before you are unable to do so.

Here are some suggestions:

• If your company has an employee assistance program, check out the details and consider a visit - for yourself, your spouse or child. If you have medical insurance, find out if it covers mental health illnesses and if the insurance company offers a plan to extend coverage after a layoff.

• As for medications, contact the Partnership for Prescription Assistance ( www.pparx.org), a consortium of pharmaceutical companies created Partnership for Prescription Assistance, which offers 2,500 brand-name and generic prescription medications free or low cost. The anti-depressants and mood stabilizer that I take are on this list of covered drugs.

• Astra Zeneca, maker of the anti-psychotic Seroquel and non-mental health medications such as Nexium and Prilosec, discounts medications for individuals earning under $30,000, couples making less than $60,000 or those who spend at least 3 percent of their annual household income on prescription medications.

• Look into credit counseling, refinancing and consolidating loans, college financial aid programs, local nonprofits and churches that offer assistance, substance abuse meetings, family counseling, public transportation, legal aid and — most important — how to find a new job.