10-10-2011, 03:48 PM
[size="3"][url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Of-depression-and-drugs/articleshow/10298530.cms"]Of depression and drugs[/url] : TOI, Kolkata, Oct 10, 2011
[/size][indent][size="3"]
[size="3"]"I just can't get myself back to the rigour. It's just too stressful," he mumbles, sitting cross-legged in a psychiatrist's chamber in south Kolkata. But he misses the "fun and the excitement" of weekends in Bangalore, he says. The night-long parties and the wild sessions at discos still haunt him. "I wish I could stick to my job, but it was too much of a pressure..." he trailed off, looking helplessly across the table at his doctor. Nandy visits his psychiatrist twice every week.[/size]
[size="3"] [color="#9932cc"]{ [/color][/size][size="3"][color="#9932cc"]---------------[/color][/size]
[size="3"][color="#9932cc"] Quote from The Brave New World, Revisited :
... "Free as a bird," we say, and envy the winged creatures for their power of unrestricted movement in all the three dimensions. But, alas, we forget the dodo. Any bird that has learned how to grub up a good living without being compelled to use its wings will soon renounce the privilege of flight and remain forever grounded. Something analogous is true of human beings. If the bread is supplied regularly and copiously three times a day, many of them will be perfectly content to live by bread alone -- or at least by bread and circuses alone. "In the end," says the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky's parable, "in the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'make us your slaves, but feed us.' " ...
--------------- } [/color][/size]
[size="3"]There are scores like him who are struggling to pick up the pieces and start afresh. Many will probably never recover fully, say psychiatrists. "Not all can handle the pressure of working by the clock, meeting deadlines and attending calls. For these youngsters, it proved too much to deal with. Add to this the peer pressure to spend and have fun in a certain kind of way. Many tend to believe it's fashionable to take drugs or alcohol without realizing the consequences. You need to strike a fine balance between your social and professional lives to survive a taxing job. Else, the result is inevitably going to be disastrous and it's turning out to be so," said psychiatrist Amarnath Mallik. He receives calls from at least three IT sector employees every day. "And half of them are in no position to work," Mallik says.[/size]
[size="3"]Nandy, for instance, has been out of job for a year. The very sight of a call centre leaves him unnerved. "I just can't get myself to sit in a row and on the computer with the headphones. Those incessant calls and working under the hawk eyes of the supervisor rattles me. Unfortunately, call centres are the only place where I can possibly look for employment since I am not qualified enough for a better job," says Nandy, a commerce graduate.[/size]
[size="3"]Namita Saha was fresh out of college when she "wandered into a BPO office" in Kolkata with a friend in 2009. They were offered jobs rightaway and Namita - a small-town girl - needed the money. "The first six months were like a dream. I did well, even got a promotion. I had enough to spend on myself even after I had sent money home. So, I partied almost every other night. I would get up groggy in the morning, report to work, get back and party again.[/size]
[size="3"]Slowly, I started losing focus. My performance suffered and I was warned by my office. But I still couldn't discipline myself. Last December, I was asked to put in my papers," said Namita. The 25-year-old has been living with a friend ever since and her family doesn't know why she has lost her job. An uncle helps her with money occasionally. Even though she blames herself for throwing it all away, her psychiatrist believes it could have happened to anyone. The odd hours and the work pressure are often inhuman, he pointed out.[/size]
[size="3"]The only way to deal with the setback is to begin on a clean slate, which can happen only if one manages to put the bad experiences behind, says psychiatrist Siladitya Ray. "You need a complete break for that. And regain your confidence which is often shattered once you have been asked to quit or failed to cope with a job. It takes time but is not impossible. In the fast-paced world of IT, youngsters must learn to live with such failures," said Ray.[/size]
[size="3"](Names have been changed) [/size]
[/indent]
[/size][indent][size="3"]
Quote:Thirty-year-old Rajiv Nandy had everything that a youngster craves for - a high-paying job, a rented apartment and friends to hang out with. When he shifted to Bangalore from Kolkata to work in a BPO eight years ago, the IT dream had just taken off. Hundreds were trooping to India's Silicon Valley to chart a dream career. For many like Rajiv, though, the stress of surviving in a ruthless professional world where you work hard and party even harder, eventually proved too much. Hooked on drugs and alcohol, he lost his job last year and has since been struggling to get out of depression.[/size]
[size="3"]"I just can't get myself back to the rigour. It's just too stressful," he mumbles, sitting cross-legged in a psychiatrist's chamber in south Kolkata. But he misses the "fun and the excitement" of weekends in Bangalore, he says. The night-long parties and the wild sessions at discos still haunt him. "I wish I could stick to my job, but it was too much of a pressure..." he trailed off, looking helplessly across the table at his doctor. Nandy visits his psychiatrist twice every week.[/size]
[size="3"] [color="#9932cc"]{ [/color][/size][size="3"][color="#9932cc"]---------------[/color][/size]
[size="3"][color="#9932cc"] Quote from The Brave New World, Revisited :
... "Free as a bird," we say, and envy the winged creatures for their power of unrestricted movement in all the three dimensions. But, alas, we forget the dodo. Any bird that has learned how to grub up a good living without being compelled to use its wings will soon renounce the privilege of flight and remain forever grounded. Something analogous is true of human beings. If the bread is supplied regularly and copiously three times a day, many of them will be perfectly content to live by bread alone -- or at least by bread and circuses alone. "In the end," says the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky's parable, "in the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'make us your slaves, but feed us.' " ...
--------------- } [/color][/size]
[size="3"]There are scores like him who are struggling to pick up the pieces and start afresh. Many will probably never recover fully, say psychiatrists. "Not all can handle the pressure of working by the clock, meeting deadlines and attending calls. For these youngsters, it proved too much to deal with. Add to this the peer pressure to spend and have fun in a certain kind of way. Many tend to believe it's fashionable to take drugs or alcohol without realizing the consequences. You need to strike a fine balance between your social and professional lives to survive a taxing job. Else, the result is inevitably going to be disastrous and it's turning out to be so," said psychiatrist Amarnath Mallik. He receives calls from at least three IT sector employees every day. "And half of them are in no position to work," Mallik says.[/size]
[size="3"]Nandy, for instance, has been out of job for a year. The very sight of a call centre leaves him unnerved. "I just can't get myself to sit in a row and on the computer with the headphones. Those incessant calls and working under the hawk eyes of the supervisor rattles me. Unfortunately, call centres are the only place where I can possibly look for employment since I am not qualified enough for a better job," says Nandy, a commerce graduate.[/size]
[size="3"]Namita Saha was fresh out of college when she "wandered into a BPO office" in Kolkata with a friend in 2009. They were offered jobs rightaway and Namita - a small-town girl - needed the money. "The first six months were like a dream. I did well, even got a promotion. I had enough to spend on myself even after I had sent money home. So, I partied almost every other night. I would get up groggy in the morning, report to work, get back and party again.[/size]
[size="3"]Slowly, I started losing focus. My performance suffered and I was warned by my office. But I still couldn't discipline myself. Last December, I was asked to put in my papers," said Namita. The 25-year-old has been living with a friend ever since and her family doesn't know why she has lost her job. An uncle helps her with money occasionally. Even though she blames herself for throwing it all away, her psychiatrist believes it could have happened to anyone. The odd hours and the work pressure are often inhuman, he pointed out.[/size]
[size="3"]The only way to deal with the setback is to begin on a clean slate, which can happen only if one manages to put the bad experiences behind, says psychiatrist Siladitya Ray. "You need a complete break for that. And regain your confidence which is often shattered once you have been asked to quit or failed to cope with a job. It takes time but is not impossible. In the fast-paced world of IT, youngsters must learn to live with such failures," said Ray.[/size]
[size="3"](Names have been changed) [/size]
[/indent]