AZE.US
Anxiety has become more widespread in Azerbaijan in recent years, and the patients seeking help are increasingly younger, psychiatrist Halima Gamarlinskaya told Vesti Baku.
Gamarlinskaya said the rise has been especially visible since the pandemic. In her practice, the number of people seeking help for anxiety has grown from about 1-2 patients a day several years ago to 5-7 patients a day now.
“This is not because I became more popular or other doctors became more popular,” she said. “People are really finding it hard to live with these unpleasant feelings of anxiety.”
The most alarming change, she said, is age. Anxiety disorders are now being seen among children as young as 12 or 13.
Gamarlinskaya said anxiety at that age can affect learning, self-esteem and social behavior. Teenagers may begin to perform worse at school, withdraw from others and spend more time in online games, where their anxiety briefly decreases and dopamine rises.
That pattern, she said, is one reason online gaming dependence is also growing.
Why People Are More Irritable
Gamarlinskaya said the irritability now seen in traffic, queues, homes and social media should not be dismissed as simple rudeness.
She described anxiety and irritation as different reactions to stress. Fear often appears as anxiety, while aggression often appears as irritation.
“People have become more irritable. It is visible. They cannot hide their aggression,” she said.
She linked this to lower stress tolerance and weaker emotional control. Many people, she said, do not see themselves from the outside and do not fully understand why they react so sharply.
Debt, Prices And Gambling
Financial pressure is another major factor affecting mental health, Gamarlinskaya said.
She said debt, loans, rising prices and fear of not being able to cover expenses can push some people toward gambling. In one recent week alone, five people who had problems with gambling came to her for help.
“In 20 years of working in psychiatry, I had not seen that before,” she said.
According to Gamarlinskaya, people under financial pressure sometimes believe that one bet can solve their problems at once. Instead, they fall into a cycle of new debts and new gambling.
For responsible people, she said, financial pressure can cause deep tension, low mood, lower self-esteem and constant stress.
Poverty, Insecurity And Family Conflicts
Gamarlinskaya also said poverty and a constant feeling of insecurity can produce not only sadness, but also anger.
She said people who feel vulnerable and unable to meet social expectations may experience depression, especially when social media constantly promotes images of success, wealth and a perfect life.
For some people, that pain turns inward. For others, it turns into aggression.
Family conflicts, she said, are often connected not only to money, but also to the collapse of dialogue inside the family.
“People do not hear each other, and they do not want to hear each other,” she said. “There is maximum egoism. There is no empathy, no compassion.”
Gamarlinskaya said many young people are also less willing to create families, take responsibility, make compromises or share financial problems with a partner.
Men Are Also Seeking Help
Gamarlinskaya said she does not fully agree with the idea that men in Azerbaijan rarely admit they are struggling psychologically.
In recent years, she said, men have been coming to specialists as often as women. Many of their complaints are linked to burnout at work, emotional burnout and pressure inside the family.
She said the idea that “a man must endure” is unhealthy. Many men, she said, no longer want to silently tolerate a difficult mental state and are looking for ways to recover.
At the same time, men often face pressure to work constantly and provide for the family, leaving little time for rest or self-care.
Women Carry A Double Burden
Speaking about women, Gamarlinskaya said social expectations remain one of the strongest pressures.
Women are often expected to protect the family, raise children, look good and succeed at work at the same time, she said.
That load, she added, is producing high levels of burnout among women.
Gamarlinskaya said men and women still do not have equal opportunities for rest. A man may be more able to leave the family for treatment, travel or recovery, while a woman with children often cannot do the same.
“This is not a feminist view,” she said. “It is a real assessment of the state of women in our society. They carry too much weight.”
When A Teenager Needs A Specialist
Gamarlinskaya urged parents not to dismiss serious changes in teenagers as “caprices” or “character.”
She said parents sometimes assume a child has read about symptoms online, copied them or “tried them on.” But clinical interviews and assessment tools often show that the child is not pretending and may be facing anxiety, depression or early signs of a personality disorder.
She said self-harm is one of the most serious warning signs. Parents should also watch for sudden withdrawal, loss of interest, isolation from peers, lack of joy in things the child previously enjoyed, declining goals and visible discomfort in social settings.
In such cases, she said, parents can first contact a child psychologist. If the symptoms are clinically serious, they should consult a psychiatrist.
Social Media And The “Beautiful Life” Effect
Gamarlinskaya said social media remains a powerful source of pressure for young people.
Constant comparison with someone else’s “beautiful life” can create a feeling of failure, she said. There will always be someone who looks better, dresses better, drives a more expensive car, studies at a more prestigious university or takes holidays that others cannot afford.
That comparison can damage self-esteem and contribute to anxiety or depressive episodes.
Why People Still Fear The Word “Psychiatrist”
Gamarlinskaya said Azerbaijan still has a stigma around the word “psychiatrist.”
She said that 20 years ago, many people associated psychiatry mainly with severe mental illness and psychiatric hospitals. Today, however, psychiatrists work with a much wider range of conditions, including anxiety and depression.
She said people should not rely only on friends, motivational videos or random advice when they face persistent problems with sleep, mood, motivation, fears, suspicion, obsessive thoughts or unstable emotions.
If these symptoms interfere with study, work, relationships or daily life, she said, that is already a reason to seek professional help.
Seeing a psychiatrist, Gamarlinskaya said, does not mean that a person has “gone mad.” More often, it means trying to deal with a condition before it damages quality of life further.
AZE.US