Dhidam: Determined Hearts Inspiring Diligence and Aspiration for Metamorphosis
(“திடம்” in Tamil signifies firmness, resolve, and perseverance – the foundation of emotional strength and personal growth.)
DHIDAM is designed to help young adults build resilience, stay determined in the face of challenges, and develop a positive mindset for personal transformation. Through a combination of counseling, peer support initiatives, and skill-building workshops, we guide students in cultivating diligence, confidence, and long-term aspirations that enable them to thrive emotionally, academically, and socially.
Stress therapy, also known as stress management or stress management therapy, can help people learn to manage stressful situations or feelings. The therapy includes a group of techniques, strategies, or programs that are used to address stressful situations and your response to them.
It is common to experience stress throughout life, and many people go through phases of stress. While short periods of slightly increased stress levels may be considered normal.
What is stress?
Stress is a feeling of overwhelm or doubt related to situations or things that happen to us. It is a natural human response to potentially threatening or dangerous situations and can be physical, mental, or emotional.
Possible causes of stress
College:
- Heavy workload: Feeling overwhelmed by deadlines, responsibilities, and expectations.
- Difficult colleagues or lecturers: Dealing with conflicts, unfair treatment, or lack of support.
- Exams and deadlines: Pressure to perform well in academics.
- Long working hours: Lack of balance between studies & fun and insufficient time for rest and relaxation.
- Peer pressure: Trying to fit into group of college friends
Personal Life:
- Relationship problems: Conflicts with partners, family members, or friends.
- Financial difficulties: Struggles with the thought of student loan, need buy gadgets or unexpected expenses.
- Chronic illness or injury: Dealing with pain, medical treatments, and lifestyle adjustments.
- Care-giving responsibilities: Looking after elderly parents or sick family members.
- Traumatic events: Experiencing or witnessing accidents, violence, or natural disasters.
Other Factors:
- Daily hassles: Traffic jams, household chores, and other everyday challenges.
- Social and environmental factors: Discrimination, poverty, and lack of access to resources.
- Internal pressures: Perfectionism, negative self-talk, and unrealistic expectations.
- Personality traits: Some people are more prone to stress than others due to their temperament or coping mechanisms.
It’s important to remember that stress is subjective, and what triggers one person may not affect another. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by stress, it’s crucial to identify the causes and seek support.
Anger management refers to a set of skills used to handle and express anger in healthy ways. Anger is a natural emotion, and when managed well, it can even be healthy and productive. But when anger escalates to the point that it causes harm to yourself and others, it’s time to make some changes.
Anger management counseling
Anger management therapy helps a person gain insight into what triggers their anger as well as identify their anger responses. Using certain exercises, the person develops skills that help them manage their anger in healthy and productive ways.
Our Psychotherapists use three basic strategies in anger management treatment:
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Relaxation: Learning to calm the body
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Cognitive therapy: Learning healthy thinking patterns
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Skill development: Learning new behaviors
Benefits
Poor anger management is associated with a number of negative effects on physical, mental, and social health, including cardiovascular diseases, low self-esteem, and interpersonal problems.
Proper anger management habits are part of taking care of overall health for everyone.
Worrying is a part of life. It’s natural to worry about the stressful things in our lives. But what happens when that worry becomes invasive and persistent? For people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), worrying can take over their lives, becoming excessive and exaggerated.
A person with GAD doesn’t simply have rational worries based on actual risk—they worry regardless of outside stressors, exaggerate the perceived level of risk, and cannot rationalize away the worry.
GAD is a common mental illness that is characterized by excessive, chronic worry that interferes with a person’s ability to function normally. A person with GAD may be worried about the same things as a person without GAD, but their worries are persistent, difficult to control, accompanied by physical symptoms, and cause significant distress and impairment in their lives.
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Excessive anxiety and worry about several activities or events, occurring more days than not for at least six months
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Difficulty controlling your worry
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Three (or more) of the following six symptoms (young adults), with at least some symptoms having been present for more days than not for the past six months:
- Restlessness, feeling keyed up or on edge
- Being easily fatigued
- Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
- Irritability
- Muscle tension
- Sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless, unsatisfying sleep)
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Significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, caused by worry or anxiety
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Symptoms are not caused by a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or another medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism)
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Symptoms are not better explained by another mental illness or disorder
Causes
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Nervousness or irritability
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Feeling a sense of impending danger, panic, or doom
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Increased heart rate
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Hyperventilation (rapid breathing)
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Sweating
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Trembling
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Feeling weak or tired
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Gastrointestinal (GI) problems
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Headaches and other unexplained pains
GAD therapy
Our therapist use cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT helps analyze the way we think in order to recognize and correct distortions. Using CBT, people with GAD can change their automatic thinking processes that lead to anxiety and replace them with healthier ways of thinking.
We counsel
Education: Before re-training your thinking processes, it’s important to learn both how anxiety works and how the process of CBT works. In this stage, you will focus on gaining an understanding of GAD and how it affects your thin king and your behavior. You will also learn what to expect from CBT treatment.
Monitoring: You will be taught ways to monitor your anxiety. What triggers it? What specific things do you worry about? How intense are your episodes and for how long do they last? Monitoring your anxiety gives you an overall view of what GAD looks like for you. Being aware of how your anxiety manifests and what triggers it will help you implement ways to change it. It may help to keep a diary for this part of therapy.
Physical control strategies: Anxiety elicits a “fight or flight” response. In this stage of CBT, you will learn techniques to combat this physical over-arousal.
Cognitive control strategies: This is where the “thinking about thinking” comes in. These strategies help you to realistically examine and evaluate the thinking patterns that contribute to GAD, and alter them to be more productive. Challenging these negative thoughts helps to lower your anxiety.
Behavioral strategies: Avoidance is a common reaction to anxiety, but not usually a productive one. This stage focuses on learning to tackle your anxiety and face your fears head-on instead of avoiding the things that make you anxious.