Being worried about losing your job is normal. But being worried about your job every day with no unknown root cause is not. This is the story of 38-year-old Lakshmi*. A divorced mother of two teenagers, she has had a successful well-paying career for the past several years in the top management of her organization. Being in the organization for over 6 years, she’s been constantly worried about losing her job and not being able to provide for her children for the past 8 months or so.

Ever since the worry set in, she’s found it extremely difficult to brush it off and found herself getting restless, tired, and tense. Pacing when she’s alone, losing track of what she’s saying, rehearsing worst-case scenarios, and losing sleep to the fear of losing her job… are a few of the ways it’s been impacting her.

After listening to her valid concerns, our psychologist helped her identify unhealthy patterns in her relationship with work. While exploring this, Lakshmi* also revealed that she has unhealthy relationships in all aspects of her life. She was made aware of her anxiety-driven relationship patterns and behaviors and how they might have had long-term detriments. Once she was psycho-educated on that, she was taught better ways to deal with any fears or insecurities that she encountered. Other techniques like how to build a strong support system, talking to friends about her worries, and knowing who to avoid while she felt anxious were discussed with her.

Today, she feels her negative thinking has reduced and in case she encounters a negative thought she feels equipped to deal with it in a healthy manner.

(*name changed for anonymity)