Many couples are finding what happens in the nation's boardrooms also affects what happens - or doesn't happen - in the bedroom.
Mary Jo Rapini, a psychotherapist with The Methodist Hospital in Houston, has been counseling more and more couples who find that anxiety over their economic situation threatens the long-range outlook of their lives together.
"The more couples spend and lose in the stock market, the more they fight," Rapini said. "The bickering can put a huge strain on a marriage. Stress and anxiety can erode trust between partners, especially if one misunderstands why the other is acting distant or distracted."
Couples need to remember that money is symbolic, she said. In men, it represents strength, power and self worth. For women, money is more of a sense of security and a feeling of being loved when their husbands provide for the household.
The key to getting through this crisis is to realize that the financial problems are not going to go away overnight and to communicate your fears. Rapini said if you're too angry to talk, write a note, and talk later. Keeping feelings inside only harbors resentment in the long run, and in many cases, leads to cheating and/or divorce.
Rapini suggests some ways couples can get through a bumpy economy: