{"id":191,"date":"2020-09-23T12:51:55","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T12:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/?p=191"},"modified":"2020-10-29T10:13:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T10:13:30","slug":"how-to-manage-your-career-with-a-mental-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/?p=191","title":{"rendered":"How to manage your career with a Mental Illness?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Dr. Surbhi Trivedi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DR. SURBHI TRIVEDI is a consultant psychiatrist with Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital and Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital. The young and dynamic psychiatrist took on a host of questions related with mental illness and how it impacts our career.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She patiently answered all the questions put forth by the HCI participants online on Zoom, on Sunday 20th Sept. 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a glimpse of the questions and the deft answers given by this enthusiastic change maker in her session. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*Question: Why is there a negative attitude towards taking medicine?*

Answer:
Since childhood we are not taught that brain can fall ill.  If we accept that the brain is part of our body then it becomes easy to accept that we have to take medicine, just like we have to take medicine when a part of body falls ill.

💜 *Mentally ill people can not produce adequate results at workplace. It becomes challenging for them to perform adequately at work place. How to deal with such a situation?*

Answer:
Illness takes a lot of your energy. A part of the brain energy goes towards handling your mental illness. This handling of mental illness can be done by medicine. So if you take medicine, you will be able to do better at work.
When you come back to work after recovery from mental illness after a long time, you should know that your cognitive functions will be affected. It may take some time for them to come to normal or to a stage before illness. Understand your triggers of anxiety\/ or your specific illness. Start making notes about what triggers episodes. Then start working on them. When you go for your work, make a list with priority of jobs. Prioritise the work which must be done first and work accordingly. 
Every night, 5 minutes before going to bed, make a list of work to be done, the next day. On the next day, if you are low on mood, you can finish off work which are top priority and leave out rest of the work.
When you are at work take 5 to 10 min of break after one or two hours… you can have small talk with colleagues, have a juice, or have a small walk. It helps to restore your energy. This may not be possible in all workplaces but do it wherever it is possible.
In addition, 
a) You should eat properly.
b) Sleep properly.
c) Build resources in free time.  Pursue a hobby or two. Do crosswords and similar activities to increase\/build cognitive abilities. You can do Mandala painting.
d) You can talk to your counsellor or to a friend and discuss with him about the list of your problems at work. Even just a discussion will help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *How do you come back to normal fast after you recover from a mental illness?*
Answer:
Just like you resume normal life after removal of your plaster post a fracture. 
When you were in plaster, your muscles have become weak hence you slowly train your muscles and increase the load. Your body or mind will take their own time to recover. If you do your exercises properly, you will gain strength. If you try to give more load immediately after recovery, your body or mind will collapse again. So go slow as the body permits.
Any counselor will guide you through gradual return to normal or to the  fitness level before illness.
Those who have been away from work for considerably long time can take help by an occupational therapist. They are experts in this field.
Meanwhile, you chart the things you would like to achieve in relation to your recovery, in the 1st week, in the 2nd week, etc. Add activities to the chart. Carry out the plan and later, review if you could tolerate that speed of recovery, what improvements you would like to make in the plan… and then proceed accordingly.
Meanwhile, solve crossword puzzles. They come in various grades. Start with easy level and slowly move upwards. They will help you to improve your cognitive functions.
In addition, you can play simple games at home, with your family and friends.
Most importantly, add some physical activities\/exercises to your schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *My friend has got depression. Her husband nags her continuously. This aggravates her disease. How can we take her husband to the psychiatrist to understand how his behavior is affecting his wife..and change his behavior accordingly. He is not listening to anyone and is not ready to come to the psychiatrist.*

Answer:
Take help of the psychiatrist of your friend. He will tell her how to talk to her husband. If it works, it’s ok. But you can not force anyone to go to a psychiatrist unless he is causing harm to anyone. If he is causing harm, then you can take help of police. You can file a F.I.R. in the nearest police station and with the help of police, you can take him to the psychiatrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *I have social anxiety issues. Due to that, it’s difficult for me to handle the situation at work. Now a days,  most of the jobs need one to interact with people. What can I do?*

Answer:
You will need treatment with medicine and psychotherapy, both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *I got a panic attack in office. Should I discuss it with my boss?*

Answer:
Understand your office environment. If you feel that your boss will understand you, then tell him. He will take care of the situation and will tell your colleagues, also.
If your boss is not open, then do not tell him anything. Learn to handle your panick attack. Learn relaxation techniques, breathing exercises and keep s.o.s. medicine wih you for such emergency situation. You can control panic attack in 10 minutes with these medicines. But these medicines are to be used only when it is absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *Work place workload and deadlines are triggers for my panic attacks. How to handle them?*

Answer:
If you cannot leave office, take small breaks or talk to colleagues for some time on some other topic. If you cannot handle the situation, take s.o.s. medicine meant for such emergency situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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💜 *People are afraid of taking medicines because they are afraid of getting addicted to these medicines. They are also wary of drowsiness which is a side effect of these medicines. What is the reality?*

Answer:
Addiction does not occur if you take these medicines as told by your psychiatrist and under his supervision.
If you feel sleepy it’s ok. Brain needs sleep to do its work. So medicine help the brain that way. Secondly, medicines do the work of fighting the disease, this relieves the brain from the task of fighting the disease and the brain can use that energy to heal itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *Heavy workload at workplace is my issue. How to handle that?*

Answer:
Make a To do list. Prioritise the jobs. Make a time-table, like you made in your school.
Decide Log in and Log out times and follow them. Work in the given time slots. This will remove procrastination.
Take regular breaks.
Big or large deadlines are more anxiety producing or pressurising. Break the big deadline into smaller deadlines. Smaller deadlines are not overwhelming. So break the workload in smaller fragments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *All counsellors ask us to follow a regular schedule for the day. But being a person from the creative field, I work when I get the spark and then I start working and keep working for long periods, once I get into the zone. Is it OK or what should I do in this situation?*

Answer:
Keep a record have or keep a watch on these things for two weeks and see what effects it produces or how it works. It will give you an idea of the reality.
Remember that chaotic work will affect your body and your body clock.
In the long term, there will be negative effects on your body as well as on your brain.
When your brain centres dealing with your body clock are disturbed, the neuronal chemicals in them will be distributed. In the brain, all parts are influenced by neuronal secretions of other parts of brain. Due to this mechanism,.. the disturbance in the body clock region of the brain will affect other neuronal circuits in the brain and produce bad changes in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *How to deal with sudden changes in life and how to deal with sudden trauma.?*

Answer:
When sudden changes come, they bring in many emotions in you. They invoke many feelings.  You have to acknowledge those feelings and accept them.
You have to accept that, at that point, you may not function optimally.
Give yourself time to come back to your own self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *Corporate politics and criticism by my boss and colleagues breaks me down. How to overcome my sensitive nature and develop the ability to take the things in my stride?*

Answer:
Listen to their criticism without judgement.
Usually, we take it offensively, we take it as an attack.We tend to react.
Try to understand them.
Ask them to explain. Sometimes their criticism is justified. See if, any part of the criticism is justified. If it is justified, then it’s constructive criticism. Then try to work on that.
If criticism is not constructive, yet do not react angrily. Go back to them. Take it as healthy discussion. See how you can give them understanding. If they can not see or do not want to see the things correctly, then leave the topic. You do not get affected by them. You can not control how they will behave, so do not bother about it. Do not let the control of how you are feeling, go in their hands. You are responsible for your happiness and no one else is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *My husband does not want to work in his present BPO job. He says that he is bored of the job. He has social anxiety. He has to make presentations in front of many people. He is the team leader and feels anxious about presentations. His boss wants to groom him and take him to the next level, but my husband does not want to work. He says, he finds the work boring. What should we do?*

Answer:\u00a0
Check if his mood is affected. If yes, then it may mean mental illness. Sometimes there might be some other issues which might\u00a0 not have come to your attention. Try to find if there are any such issues.
If social anxiety is the main issue, then it needs to be worked upon. It may take time to resolve or cure it.\u00a0
Check if it’s due to new people or new place.
Check if he doesn’t like work totally or is it situational.
If he doesn’t like work, it’s not easy to change the career. If he wants to change the career or job, do not abruptly leave the job. Take treatment and continue with the present job, and side by side, make plans about a new job or career. Work on that plan till he can switch jobs comfortably or else continue with the present job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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💜 *When I have to refer a patient to a mental health professional, whom should I send the patient to – a counsellor or psychiatrist?..if I have to choose only one*

Answer:
Best is psychiatrist. A Psychiatrist knows about counselling too and some of them offer counselling. Others give medicine and when a patient’s biochemistry in the brain is settled enough to take counselling or therapy; then the psychiatrist sends the patient to a counsellor or psychologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *Spirituality, morality and some principles taught in therapy clash with reality at work place and people at work place use them as  manipulation or emotional blackmail to get things done for their own benefit. How to develop the mental or psychological strength to deal with such manipulations?*

Answer: 
You have to decide what your principles are and you have to take a call about how much you are going to lose for  the sake of your principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to decide about these things for yourself. You have to learn assertiveness skills, too. You can give in to small things if they’re not going to have severe adverse effects. Decide the limit to which you can stretch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be prepared for the consequences, either way. See whether you are ready to accept consequences for the action you choose. At times, you cannot have everything from both sides. Consequences may not go as per your perception of the things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For everything, there will be consequences. Choose one of the options and then accept the situation as it is or as it unfolds and learn to live with it and learn to be at ease with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *It’s a thinking that, unless psychotic, many diseases can be treated with therapy alone. How much truth, is there, in this way of thinking?*

Answer:
Many neurotic diseases have moods going up and down. With these mood changes, biochemical changes too occur in the brain. Due to them, other parts of the brain are also affected. All these biochemical changes can be balanced by medicines. Hence medicines help the healing process or to mitigate the harmful\/unwanted effects of neurotic disease processes. Therefore medicines are recommended in neurotic diseases too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

💜 *Some people are on therapy only and some are on medicines alone. When is it time to add the other or can we continue with only one?*

Answer:
For people on therapy… when it becomes evident that therapy alone is not giving satisfying results, then it’s time to add medicines to the treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For people on medicines alone… when one sees that the intense phase of symptoms has come down and now the patient is in a state to understand triggers and the benefit from therapy, then you can add therapy to his medicines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Surbhi Trivedi DR. SURBHI TRIVEDI is a consultant psychiatrist with Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital and Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital. The young and dynamic psychiatrist took on a host of questions related with mental illness and how it impacts our career. She patiently answered all the questions put forth by the HCI participants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197,"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huggingclubofindia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}