Top 5 psychological problems affecting techies

Today competition has taken a tremendous leap in every field, and the most significant among them is the IT sector. The advent of globalization and MNC's flooding into the nation; the struggle to remain at the top is at its peak. Everyone wants to retain the top position, deliver their best and get appreciation from their boss and in that race the techies tend to get to far and too ambitious by getting overly engrossed in the mechanical world. This ultimately affects the psyche of the techies and they become the victim of various psychological disorders. These disorders seen to be very common yet they are very serious one if not detected and council at the correct time. At least one in every fifteen persons approaching a doctor for psychiatric counseling in the city is either a software professional or working in call centers. The number of young techies who approach them for counseling has increased rapidly in the past one year. Here are the top psychological disorders of techies for our readers.

Dr. Sulatha Shenoy, a well known Psychologist listed out the top five disorders that are commonly found present among the techies.

1. Depression

Depression is one of the major psychological disorders that are highly prevalent among the techies. It is a feeling that may be described as feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps. Most of us feel this way at one time or another for short periods; however the symptoms of depression seem to be for long hours and very common among the techies.Struggles, setbacks, and disappointments are various causes of severe depression. It is different from normal sadness in that it engulfs your day-to-day life, interfering with your ability to work, study, eat, sleep, and have fun. Depression is most likely to occur in a typical office situation where there is a lot of work pressure on employees and one needs to go for proper counseling before it takes a severe form.

 

2. Stress, anxiety and Repetitive stress injuries
Stress and anxiety comes from sheer frustratration, anger, or anxiousness and the techies are the most subjected ones to these attributes. Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension or fear. Post-traumatic stress disorder is characterized by intrusive thoughts, sleep loss and hyper-alertness following a horrifying experience. Antanxiety medications, talk therapy and other conventional treatments are some of the help that is available for dealing with such disorder.

Repetitive stress injuries

Repetitive stress injuries are something which is highly prevalent among the techies. The techies develop backache and anatomical discomforts and incase of techies it is related to hand and figure numbness, eye dryness which is outcome of being constantly in keyboard and mouse. It is a potentially debilitating condition resulting from overusing the hands to perform a repetitive task. Anyone who uses a computer regularly is at risk and should know about RSI. Unfortunately, most people are uninformed and do not understand what RSI is or how serious it can be. The three primary risk factors are poor posture, poor technique, and overuse. If you develop RSI, and do not take steps to correct the problem, there may be serious repercussions. In addition to limiting your day-to-day functionality, this decreased independence can cause a significant emotional burden.

3. Sleep disorders

Their demanding profession contributes highly in giving birth to sleeping disorders. The contributory factors towards this is long hours of work, deadlines to meet, night shift. Have trouble falling asleep, to lie awake in the middle of the night, or feel sleepy and fatigued during the day are some of the symptoms that may lead one to spleeping disorder and when these However, problems are a regular occurrence and when they get in the way of your daily routine and hamper the ability to function then you may be suffering from a sleep disorder.

 

4. Eating disorder
Negative influences within the organization play a major role in triggering and perpetuating eating disorders. The huge pressure to meet deadlines and the less amount of time to finish a particular work contribute hugely in creating eating disorders among the techies. They either snack on junked food which does not seem sufficient for them or they tend to skip meals. This ultimately affects their appetites which tend to become accustomed with the new behavior. Anorexia, is the distorted body image (body dysmorphia). It is one form of eating disorder that are prevalent among the techies and few adult treatment options exist hence we would recommend you to overcome the pressure of your organization and follow period routine of your food habits. Anorexia nervosa is a very serious illness that has a wide range of effects on the body and mind. It is also associated with other problems ranging from frequent flu?s and general poor health to life-threatening conditions. Some experts believe that it should be not be approach as a simple eating disorder but as a serious condition requiring staging according to severity. A website called About.com revealed that study on eating disorders showed that recovery rates vary between 23 percent and 50 percent, and relapses range from 4 percent to 27 percent. Even for those who recover, one study indicated that recovery took between four and nearly seven years. Depending on the duration of the study, anorexic patients have reported death rates ranging from 4 percent to 25 percent.

 

5. Lifestyle disorders and relationship disturbances
Given the nature of the work the techies develops lifestyle disorders. They have problems in socializing and create complexities in relationships. The hectic lifestyles prohibit them from any physical contact with people. Apart from virtual friends and socializing in computers they tend to keep themselves aloof from the world. Gynecology experts said at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) that changing lifestyle, smoking, erratic work routines and other lifestyle-related disorders are cause special harm to women as it affects infertility among women.

 

According to Dr. Shenoy there is no periodic physical exercise, water consumption, walking and very few follow these instructions to keep up with the pace of the daily life and this is highly detrimental to their health keeping their tight schedules in mind.