Millions of Americans have found themselves trapped in the financial crisis of the last two years. The toll it has taken is enormous, whether from people losing their homes, finding themselves out of a job and mired in debt, having their retirement savings cut in half, or facing a substantially lower standard of living. Besides the financial impact, it has also robbed people of their feeling of self-esteem and their hope for the future. Many families have made "Get out of debt" one of their primary goals.

Depending on how serious their financial difficulties are, it may take years for many of these individuals to fully recover, but there are ways to accelerate the healing process. And it's not simply a matter of healing families' balance sheets, but also healing their hearts and psyches as well. This has implications for the U.S. economy as a whole, because faith in our nation's future has been a perennial driving force in creating and sustaining economic growth and prosperity.

A good first step to take in the healing process is:

Don't get caught up in the endless cycle of media gloom and doom.

The press has clearly contributed to the national financial crisis by constantly emphasizing the worst possible statistics. This is particularly dangerous when it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Individuals and businesses become frightened about their future and decide not to make purchases or investments, with the result that the economy contracts even further.

The housing market is a perfect example of this. Think about the headlines in recent months that screamed, "Home values fall by record levels!!!" Four or five years ago, do you remember any headlines that said, "Home values rise by record levels!!!" or "A trillion dollars of wealth created for American homeowners!!!" Of course you don't. Because at that time all they had to say was that home affordability was dropping by record levels, and they lamented that if the uptrend in home values continued, soon the middle class would not be able to buy a home anymore. A rising housing market was great news for the majority of Americans. Somehow the media didn't see it that way.

One strategy for healing is to cut down on the consumption of excessively gloomy, toxic news. This doesn't mean it is advisable to adopt the posture of an ostrich and disengage from the world around us; it just means don't let yourself be inundated with this relentlessly bad media spin at all hours of day at work and at home. Concentrate on your own efforts at financial recovery, and don't let the negativity in the news media bring you down. According to the media the old saying no news is good news should be good news is no news. Keep track of what's going on the financial world but don't become mired in it.

Focus on the upside of how you'll feel when you finally get out of debt. The freedom from worry, sleepless nights, and creditors calling are well worth the belt tightening you may have to do.