Common Challenges

Several emotional expressions, including anger, anxiety, contempt, excitement, fear, happiness, joy, and sorrow, to mention a few, are frequently impacted by mental health issues. Emotional shifts can be common, transient reactions to situations. As a sign of an underlying disease, emotional alterations might also be out of proportion, very strong, persistent, or unstable emotional reactions.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal emotional and physiological response to feeling threatened. People differ as to how vulnerable they feel in different situations: this can be influenced by past experiences as well as by the beliefs and attitudes they hold about these situations.

Loneliness

It is a cliche that we can feel lonely - even particularly lonely - in a crowd. Unfortunately it is one that is only too true and all too common at university. Here, surrounded by people of a similar age and, supposedly, with lots in common we can nevertheless feel wretchedly isolated and awkward. This is made worse by the sight of others who seem perfectly at ease, are rapidly making friends and are becoming embedded in groups from which you feel excluded or only tolerated on the margins.

Feelings of Loneliness Occur to Us All - Sometimes we are thrown into that sense of uniqueness and the awareness that no-one can ever fully know and understand us. In fact, occasionally we may feel that we do not even understand ourselves! This is because we are constantly changing in response to the situations and relationships that we develop. We have to accept that feeling lonely is an occasional price we pay for being human. However, an ongoing sense of deep loneliness can bring on feelings of despair and depression that indicate a need to get help.

Procrastination

The avoidance of doing a task which needs to be done - postponing until tomorrow what can be done today. Procrastination not only affects a person's work, but also commonly involves feelings such as guilt, inadequacy, self-disgust, stress and depression. Often we try to disguise our avoidance by being very busy doing things that may be interesting, and even useful, but don't contribute towards the main goal - even doing something we normally hate - rather than writing, for example, just before an essay deadline!

Exam Stress

Do you sweat as the date of your examination approaches? Is your concern or worry, about how the next few days will be as exams approach, causing you to under-perform?

Well then you might be experiencing what is reffered to as Examination Stress.

Examination Stress is an uneasiness or apprehension experienced before, during, or after an examination. It is very common among college and university students. But some students find that this interferes with their learning to such an extent that it can reduce the efficiency of performance so that results emerge lower than they should, and when anxiety begins to affect exam performance it has become a problem.

Home Sickness

Many students coming to college, and maybe leaving home for the first time, feel homesick. Even those who didn't ever expect to be hit by homesickness can suddenly find themselves missing the familiarity of home and friends, and don't know quite how to cope with the resulting emotions. This is entirely normal and passes, usually in the first term, and often within the first few weeks.

It is really important to realize that you are not the only one feeling homesick and that it doesn't in any way mean you are inadequate. Suddenly, you find that, instead of being a central person in a small unit with plenty of peripheral activities and friends, you have become an anonymous member of a four thousand plus community where you know no-one. Understandably you feel shaken and lonely and you long for the secure and the familiar. Sometimes the emotions are completely overwhelming.

Relationship

Relationship or marital problems come in all shapes and sizes. So, If you're feeling distraught, worn out or desperate for help then please remember that you are not alone, and you are now in the right place.

As a qualified and experienced couple counsellor I have been with many individuals and couples who have experienced these feelings. My expert knowledge has allowed me to help them to understand how and why they are struggling. They learned how to deal with their problems, solve them and move forward.

Conflicts

Coming to one of the best engineering institutes just after your schooling can be exhilarating, challenging and sometimes unsettling. For most of you it's probably the first time you are going away from your home and your family to face the world outside. It may take few days to adjust with the entirely new environment here, including the academics, food, interaction with seniors and most importantly with your batch-mates. As an undergraduate student, most of you will be allotted a two-seater room for first couple of years. So it becomes really significant how you go on with your friends especially your room-mate.

It may happen that initially you don't feel comfortable with your friends, especially your room-mate, due to various reasons like language problem, different lifestyle or anything of that sort. Don't worry, as it is quite natural in the beginning. But you have to understand that you all are living here in a common fraternity and things will go better eventually as you start understanding your partner. It would be unfair to expect anyone to change their ways to suit you without you doing the same. The initial days requires a bit of tolerance from your side and you need to adjust. Even if things don't work out, it's much easier to unravel the problem by discussing it with your partner or with your friends rather than keeping it to yourself and unnecessarily getting tensed and ruining your health. You are mature enough to decide your preferences and conflict with others is definitely not one of them. Even then if you find it difficult, then, Counselling Service is always here to help you, to guide you. Do not hesitate to take proper guidance rather than indulging in trivial issues like conflict with others. Remember, you are here because you have the ability to grow and learn. Learning to work in a group and adapt to changing environment is one of the thing IITK would teach you. We are sure that you will make your parents and this institute proud.