There are five stages for grieving the death of a loved one according to a well-defined and widely accepted formula: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance.

When it comes to the emotional impact of job losses and other life-upending events generated directly or indirectly by this recession, the number of steps has been substantially reduced.

Frankly, in the Bermuda context, anger and depression are the only two factors consistently in play.

Like every other country in the world Bermuda has struggled to cope with the ongoing consequences of the 2008 global economic downturn.

The Island’s contemporary socio-economic terrain has become ever-shifting, with many of the old certainties systematically demolished by six years of jarring seismic shifts.

Unlike most other countries, though, the Island was already contending with the social disruptions caused by too rapid a population growth during the boomtown years of the early 21st century when the global economy imploded.

An abnormally high cost of living, mounting stress on the physical and social infrastructures, the erosion of traditional community bonds, all had made marked impacts on Bermudian society.

So the almost instantaneous transition from boom to bust aggravated a slew of existing problems as well as creating a host of new ones.

An Island which routinely boasted of “overemployment” and the need to import people to fill an abundance of positions created by its superheated economy has experienced its most protracted period of widespread joblessness since World War One ended almost a century ago.

Those who believed they were low-risk candidates for unemployment, ranging from professionals who once pulled down six-figure salaries to previously off-limits public sector workers, have discovered job security is a thing of the past.

The social consequences of this rapid contraction in the job market are evident everywhere: the routine repossession of homes and automobiles; never-ending court proceedings against otherwise upstanding Bermudians who run afoul of literally Dickensian debtors laws; the continuing disruption of family life (manifesting itself in everything from spiking divorce numbers to a violent decline in the birth rate); anecdotal evidence suggesting increasing numbers of the long-term unemployed are opting for oblivion by way of alcohol and drug abuse.

In too many instances resentment, resignation and fatalism are eclipsing the traditional Bermudian qualities of resilience, resourcefulness and optimism; distress is too often giving way to despair.

This is hardly surprising.

After six years of recession (a depression by any other name), there’s scant evidence to suggest anything but the most modest uptick in economic activity in the immediate future.

Too many Bermudians who once believed they had only been temporarily sidelined from the job market now fear unemployment or underemployment are their permanent lots in life.

Consequently, Bermuda’s politicians should have been fully prepared for both the numbers and the passions in evidence at last week’s unprecedented May Day march on Parliament.

And they should have been prepared to respond accordingly.

But both Government and the Opposition have instead gone to their default positions, issuing a series of bromides quite as canned, stilted and disingenuous as Friday’s public display of anger was authentic.

The immediate replies to the rally for jobs as well as the after-the-fact spin doctoring have owed more to the respective party lines than the increasingly acute difficulties faced by any number of Bermudians.

It’s been partisan politicking at its worst.

Simply put, the Progressive Labour Party had a very large “Kick Me” sign attached to its back - for poor economic stewardship - by the One Bermuda Alliance during the run-up to the last election, one which had the desired effect on polling day.

Now the PLP wants to return the favour while the OBA is attempting to deflect blame for our ongoing recession-spawned woes back at its predecessor.

Bermuda’s parties remain stubbornly focused on exploiting voter resentments of the kind highlighted by the rally for their own electoral advantage.

The idea of actually working together to provide long-term, sustainable solutions to the complex problems fuelling this rage doesn’t even receive lip service from our politicians.

When even a lingering national crisis like the economic one fails to elicit anything resembling a bi-partisan national response, is it any wonder anger and depression have become so very prevalent in Bermuda in recent years?