Couples are struggling to stay together as they face money worries and the threat of redundancy in the economic downturn, said counseling service Relate, which has seen its workload soar.
　　 Relate on Saturday reported a rise of almost 60 percent in the number of couples seeking help with their relationships in October and November this year as compared with last year.
　　 "The problems are to do with the recession, to do with job insecurity, to do with interest rates changing and also the escalating costs of running the family," Christine Northam, a spokeswoman for Relate, told BBC radio.
　　 "If you're dealing with these anxieties all on your own it can be very isolating, and can lead to depression and anxiety. It can impact on the relationship and that will impact on your children."
　　 Relate said it had received more than 7,500 calls in October to November this year, compared with about 5,000 in the same period of 2007.
　　 With its reliance on financial services and high levels of personal debt, Britain's economy has been particularly hard hit by the global credit squeeze.
　　 House prices have dropped 18 percent since last August, unemployment is soaring and consumer confidence has crashed. Many stores are slashing prices in a desperate bid to pull in shoppersin the run-up to Christmas.

近來業務大增的英國Relate婚姻咨詢機構稱，眼下的經濟危機導致很多夫婦之間發生矛盾，他們既擔心家庭經濟問題，又面臨著被裁員的風險。
　　 Relate機構于上周六發布報告稱，今年10月和11月，向該機構尋求婚姻顧問幫助的夫婦數量比去年同期增長了近60%。
　　 Relate機構女發言人克里斯汀•諾斯安姆在接受BBC廣播的采訪時說：“經濟衰退、工作不穩定、利率變化以及生活成本的提高都是造成問題的原因。”
　　 “如果你獨自面對這些問題，你會覺得非常孤立無援，會導致抑郁和焦慮情緒。它不僅會影響夫妻關系，還會影響到孩子。”
　　該機構稱，今年10月至11月，他們共接到7500多個求助電話，而去年同期則約為5000個。
　　以金融服務和個人信貸為支柱的英國經濟在此次全球金融危機中受到重創。
　　從去年8月至今，英國房價大跌18%，失業率劇增，消費者信心被摧毀。眼下圣誕將至，很多商家正瘋狂大減價以招攬顧客。