Psychologist
Psychologist Researcher Occupational Health Specialist
01 About
Most of what troubles us lives somewhere between who we are and what we do all day.
I became a psychologist because I wanted to understand why capable, thoughtful people still end up exhausted, stuck, or quietly unhappy. Through a Ph.D., an M.Phil., and two master's degrees — one in human resources, one in occupational health psychology — I kept arriving at the same place: the mind doesn't switch off when we walk into work, and work doesn't stay at the office when we come home.
So that is where I work: in the space between, and not only as an observer. Alongside psychology I work in industry, so I know the pressures of the workplace from the inside. I write about stress, anxiety and burnout, and lately about what the old stories, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, still teach us about the mind. One day I hope these notes become a book.
I'm less interested in quick fixes than in honest questions. The best ones are usually simple.
— Priyanka
02 Areas of focus
Not two separate specialisms, but one question asked from two sides: what does a person need to stay well, and what does a workplace need to let them?
Stress isn't a personal failing. It's a signal that something is asking for more than you currently have — and it is much easier to read early, before it starts to shout.
Burnout is rarely about one bad week. It builds slowly, through workloads, cultures and silences, so I look at both the person and the place they spend their days.
The study of how work shapes health, and how healthier work can be designed. It is research with practical consequences: clearer roles, fairer demands, kinder systems.
Some of the most useful work happens away from any crisis: pausing to ask what you value, what you're avoiding, and what you would regret leaving undone.
03 A short guide
Anxiety is a natural response to stress or concern. It is your mind and body trying to protect you.
It becomes a problem when it lasts too long or feels too strong, and starts to shape your daily life. Millions of people live with it, and help is available.
It's real. It's common. You're not alone.
Notice the signs. Take care. You matter.
Small steps every day lead to big changes. General information, not a diagnosis. The full series on Instagram →
04 A way of living
Live today as if it were your last day — then ask yourself: what regrets would you have?
Not as a source of fear — but as a reason to live honestly.
— Dr. Priyanka Goyal
05 Words I return to
06 Lessons from the epics
The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are older than psychology, but they understood people. I read them for what they still teach us about fear, attachment, difference and courage.
These are interpretations, not historical or medical diagnoses. The point is to build empathy, not labels.
Dharma rises above status and superiority.
It isn't always the easiest, but it is the truest.
Show it through kindness, not through ego or fear.
Let your actions be rooted in empathy.
Behind every action, not just in its outcome.
The epics still speak. It's up to us to listen.
07 Writing
Short essays on stress, anxiety, work and the old stories that still explain us. Notes toward the book I hope to write one day.
Imagine today were your last. Not to frighten yourself — but to notice what suddenly stops mattering, and what refuses to let go. A small exercise I come back to again and again.
Read: The Last-Day TestWhat if exhaustion were telling you something precise about your work, rather than something vague about you?
Read: Burnout Isn't WeaknessA plain-language guide to a field most people have never heard of, though it quietly shapes how they spend forty hours a week.
Read: What Occupational Health Psychology Actually MeansThe blind king knew what was right and still did nothing. His story maps onto anxiety with uncomfortable accuracy: excessive worry, denial, over-attachment, dependence on others, and inner conflict that ends in paralysis.
Read on Instagram: Dhritarashtra and AnxietyThe epics don't describe autism as we understand it today, but some characters show traits modern readers recognise: deep focus, honesty, a love of routine, unusual ways of thinking. Understand. Accept. Include.
Read on Instagram: Autism Is Human08 Contact
Whether you'd like to talk something through, or you're thinking about the wellbeing of the people you work with — write to me.
Get in touch