How to cope with job loss and related depression and anxiety

No one else can understand how defeated we feel or how anxiety soars within us when we are faced with the loss of a job. For many of us who are barely making it on what we earn, such a scenario is deeply impactful. Everything from managing our monthly expenses to the bigger commitments that we have may not even allow room for an emergency. It’s all very well for the financial planner to talk about logic of saving for an emergency, but the truth is that a large number of us have gone through a situation at some point in our life where the house of cards have crumbled like a domino.

When we are face to face with an emergency like a sudden job loss with nothing to help us through, the level of anxiety that we come up face to face with is also related to the conditioning of our mind based upon past events. Our mind interprets these external experiences based on the past. If we have been through phases of starvation, lack of stability, or struggle, then our resilience to this new threat is amplified. Our mind then perceives this situation as a state of emergency and our physiology responds according to this.

In Ayurveda, one of the triggers of vata aggravation is something which makes us feel that we are in a state of emergency. Lack of stability, financial or otherwise, is a symptom of vata imbalance and can also very quickly imbalance vata.

When our body has the predisposition to move away from a natural state of warmth and balance towards a state of imbalance, dryness, and cold, we move towards vata imbalance. So, in such a situation, our body and our nervous system becomes imbalanced and highly sensitive. Think of a gale blowing strong outside which moves the leaves rapidly. Vata aggravation is as though there were a gale blowing within us, and the leaves are the highly sensitive nervous system. Lack of stability brings us towards anxiety. Anxiety moves us towards fear. The more imbalanced vata becomes, that fear can become severe, and we might even move towards denial or avoiding facing the fear. However, it shows up as heart palpitations, racing heart, inability to slow down the breathing rate, inability to sleep, anxiety, panic, fear, and depression.

Seeking help

We must look at how our job loss or sudden financial struggle has impacted us physiologically and emotionally, when has the repercussion become too severe for us to simply ignore, and how can we support ourselves for now. These three matter a great deal.

The situation may not change right away. If we find ourselves in panic mode, we can ask ourselves if the reaction is also further influenced by any times in the past where we have felt this similar state of emergency. We can ask ourselves are we better off at this present moment in time? How is this situation impacting us physically.

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Some of the symptoms that typically arise when the nervous system is imbalanced and it feels lack of stability are cold hands and feet, cold abdomen, feeling cold, piercing pain, numbness, erratic digestion, malabsorption, bloating, constipation, gas, dry stool, loneliness, depression, insecurity, insomnia, sleep disturbance, dizziness, fainting, vertigo, confusion, fear, anxiety, worry, nervousness, PMS, dandruff, dry skin, hair, mouth, dehydration, poor circulation, palpitations, oversensitivity, fluctuating moods, stiff muscles, stiffness in joints, lack of focus, poor memory, indecisive, careless, restless, hyperactive, twitching, tremors, frequent urination, overeating, not eating, and tendency towards addiction.

We know that the impact is too much when we cannot function through the day as that anxiety keeps us scattered, and we cannot sleep at night because the panic soars. While all of us might be able to get through a few days of such reactions, we cannot deal with it for several weeks or even months, especially if the situation will take time to change. What can we do?

We can seek help, we can talk to therapists, and we can support our body with some tools that calm down the nervous system.

1.    When our financial health is hit, that is also the time we need a qualified therapist, and those are the times we cannot afford to go that route. But we can seek out help from organisations which have skilled therapists, and which are not for profit. During my worst times, I was lucky enough to find someone like this.

2.    Eating balanced meals with adequate protein that is easy to digest is very helpful in stabilising blood sugar, adrenal function, and the nervous system. Keep in mind that times of panic weaken digestion. Focusing on easy to digest foods is key.

3.    There is a lot we can do to help ourselves calm vata, even while we seek out help. The easiest and most powerful way to do this is abhyanga. Applying a little warm sesame oil using gentle strokes even for 5 minutes before a bath daily goes a long way in calming down the nervous system.

4.    The power of walking in helping to metabolise and detoxify adrenaline and cortisol, which get released rapidly when we are in panic mode, is truly wonderful. Walking is free and easy to do, even as part of life. Doing this daily will improve our resilience at that moment in time. If we do so, we start to put aside the panic, and begin to take steps towards brainstorming how we might move past this challenging situation.

5.    Yoga nidra is the best we can do for ourselves through these difficult times. There are several free versions on audio. Grounding ourselves in shavasana and allowing the autosuggestion of yoga nidra to counter the state of emergency is very much needed. Find yourself one which resonates with you and play it every day at a time when you are not disturbed.

Going forward

Not everything that we do may be a magical cure to the situation. However, committing to them will help us move away from the dejection and the tamas towards more balance or sattva. Adding some simple tools that facilitate this movement will allow us to then reach a state of better equilibrium, where we can gradually decipher for ourselves, how we might go forward.