This is a question that we all face at some point in our life as we are living in a world which is so rapidly changing. We are on a daily basis dealing with travel stress, work stress, home stress, relationship issues, educational stress, etc. We tend to do a good job on our own daily and try to fight the stress so that it does not get on to us and we all make our full attempts in coping with it to the best of our capabilities. 

Yet we are humans and at different points in our lives we may be vulnerable and not be able to cope adequately with it. We may become depressed , anxious, panicky, fearful, insomniac, jittery dealing with it. Sometimes these may be transient and brief, yet it tends to do harm if left ignored. Many a times the way stress affects our mental health can cause significant changes in our psyche. It can lead to depression, anxiety disorder, psychotic breakdown, sleep disorder, sexual dysfunction, etc. 

Stress has also been linked to cardiac illness, hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders, etc. Each one of us can have different stressors and different manifestations of mental health issues. 

It is possible that you may be experiencing some symptoms or you may be having a full blown psychiatric disorder that you may not be aware of. Disorders like Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Somatoform disorder, BPAD,  Personality Disorders,  Substance related disorder such as Alcoholism, Nicotine dependence, Cannabis dependence, Eating disorder, Sleep disorder, etc can be linked with stress such as stress can play a role in precipitating a psychiatric disorder and also causing exacerbation's and worsening in clinical outcome. 

When you are feeling stressed, kindly consult a psychiatrist. The Psychiatrist will clinically assess you and suggest some investigations perceived appropriate to your symptoms. The Psychiatrist will also suggest you stress management therapy, relaxation training and psychological therapy to cope with the stress. As per the clinical assessment, the psychiatrist will also suggest you certain medications to relieve you of your symptoms based on clinical expertise. 

The psychiatrist may also additionally collaborate with clinical psychologists and counselling psychologists for psychological testing and counselling based on clinical expertise and school of training.

How do you know if you're there?

I suggest you to kindly go through these symptoms in the checklist that I have prepared. It is not a fully comprehensive one, yet it helps you to read through and if some of these symptoms you can relate to, then it is high time to visit the psychiatrist! Kill the stress before it takes a toll on you! 

  1. I am feeling very stressed out lately and I am finding inability to relax, inability to switch off,  feeling anxious, worried, sad, depressed, inattentive, exhausted, irritable, dazed, etc.
  2. I am not able to cope well with my job and work pressure and experiencing lots of difficulties.
  3. I am not able to cope well  and adjust at my school, college and with my education and feeling very stressed out.
  4.  am having significant problems at home within my family and I am finding it very stressful at home.
  5. I am having lots of financial stress and not able to relax.
  6. I am having feeling very stressed out in my relationship issues and not able to deal with them effectively on my own.
  7. I am feeling stressed because of my general health issues like my my blood pressure, blood sugars, my newly diagnosed medical condition like Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiac Disease, Cancer, etc.
  8. I am not able to sleep well, get disturbed sleep, nightmares, bad dreams.
  9. I am gaining lots of weight or losing weight, not able to eat well or eating excessively and having gastrointestinal disturbances because of stress. 
  10. I am having marital and sexual problems because of stress.