Professional anxiety: When does anxiety become a mental health problem and when is the right time to seek help from an expert?
Career Anxiety: Anxiety is an emotion that wants to protect our interior from threats that can affect our physical, emotional and psychological well-being. Its purpose is to alarm us so that we can save ourselves from possible dangers in the current situation or in the near future. Another definition of anxiety says that it is pure intolerance of uncertainty. To create certainty in a new situation, we tend to overthink, overprepare, try to read more, overplan, and recheck our environment so nothing goes wrong.
As Jagjit Kaur, CBT expert and counseling psychologist, and founder of JagjitKaur Therapy, mentioned, some very anxious clients say, “Oh, anxiety runs in our families, that’s just the way we are.” “Thinking too much is our normal response to cope with any stressful situation.” While others say that we feel very anxious only when there is too much risk in our lives, such as losing a job, failing a competitive entrance exam, a low account balance, or a family member with a terminal illness.
When does anxiety become a mental health problem?
Anxiety begins to make our life paralyzing when we experience heightened physiological symptoms such as careers heartbeat, tremors, nausea, shortness of breath, Y feel tense most of the time We worry excessively, become restless, unable to concentrate or sleep, and fear imminent danger.
How to overcome professional anxiety?
Anxiety tends to trigger when we analyze that we do not have enough resources, abilities, strengths, qualities or characteristics to be good enough for the situation that lies ahead. People may have thoughts like, “I won’t be able to make friends because they might not like my style of clothing.” “I may get a lesser package at the new job since I haven’t improved my technical skills in the last two years.” At any age, managing your own career, taking the first step up the career ladder, starting a business, or changing careers entirely can be daunting. Self-doubt can creep in and prevent you from realizing your full potential.
- When your concerns are out of proportion to the threat of the situation, it’s a sign that you should seek help from a professional. For example, an employee feels anxious before every team meeting even though his performance is good enough. A student fears that his degree is over because he couldn’t get into a particular university.
- If such stressors cause you anxiety on a daily basis and persist for more than months, you should share your concerns with others.
- It can happen to you, your close friend, relative, colleague, or family member, so encourage open communication. Talking about mental illness is very important, but often difficult.
- If you still feel tense all the time and can’t sleep, it shows that anxiety has started to affect you negatively.
- A well-trained psychologist helps you learn techniques to relax your body and control your overthinking.
We all feel anxiety when life puts us in uncertain situations. It is a normal part of our life. So you shouldn’t be ashamed to seek help when anxiety becomes unbearable. Reach out to a career counselor, co-worker, or mental health expert you respect for their guidance and thoughts.
(Contributions from Jagjit Kaur, Counseling Psychologist and CBT Expert, Founder of JagjitKaur Therapy)
