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My best friend committed suicide – they advised him to ‘pray’ the depression...
These last few days have been particularly rough. They have been rough because one of my dearest childhood friends committed suicide, and not on account of a drug-based overdose or a road traffic...
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RIP Anam Tanoli: Worse than being a woman in Pakistan is being a victim of...
“Be grateful for what you have.” “Always look at people who are less fortunate than you.” “If you believed in God, you wouldn’t feel hopeless. You need to pray more – it’s the devil making you...
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Addiction killed Mac Miller, and it wasn’t Ariana Grande’s ‘job’ to save him
I was on my way to work last week when I came across #MacMiller trending on Twitter. Confused regarding what that could be about, I scrolled through my Instagram and found numerous tributes to the...
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The new high: You’re depressed not because “your life sucks” but because of...
“He is only 19 and so accomplished, what am I doing with my life?” “My hair never looks like that model on Instagram.” “Man! He is having the time of his life and I am just stuck in this miserable...
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I lived with anorexia for 15 years, and no one could help me
I developed anorexia when I was 19. I was going through heartbreak and an existential crisis. I wanted to discover God and also rebel against my liberal background. I wanted to find a purpose for my...
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Another life lost to depression and yet we don’t consider mental health a...
Mental health should now be the top priority of every person wanting to function fully and maintain a healthy life. However, most of the world does not take this need seriously, and Pakistan is no...
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A trans daughter‘s letter to her family: Will you love the real me and not...
Dear Abba and Maa, We live in the same house, but you have created a distance between us that leaves me feeling miles apart from you. Who generated this hatred in your heart? You can blame me for it if...
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Easy way out: Stop blaming drugs, porn for Kasur’s child abuse cases and...
Kasur, a city with a population of 3,454,996, has seen rising incidences of sexual violence, including child sexual abuse. This city has seen 700 cases of child sexual abuse in the last three years....
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Surviving suicide: My journey of grief and bipolar disorder
People most commonly associate suicide with depression, but it’s a misconception that a person can only feel suicidal when they are extremely sad. The first time I was ever suicidal, it was because I...
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#TherapistDiaries: The dilemma of being in the closet in Pakistan
I was recently discussing with a patient about how in our culture we do not like to disappoint our parents and would put up with any unreasonable demands and rules just to escape an irrational guilt of...
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I’m sorry, but I do not blame Shakeela for drowning her baby
It was an ordinary Tuesday evening and I was putting my three-year-old to bed, praying that her fever does not relapse and that she feels well enough to go to school the next morning. As I watched her...
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“He has a girlfriend”: When I unknowingly became the ‘other woman’
We met at a friend’s party. I knew everyone there, so I was curious when a new person walked through the door. All of us talked, hung out and drank. He asked for my number so he could ‘make sure I got...
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The abyss where humanity comes to die
Lately I have found myself wondering whether the plethora of problems compounding Pakistan are a recent phenomenon or whether these ever present issues have just now been pushed into the spotlight due...
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The ‘victim card’: why Pakistan remains a dangerous country for women
The rise of the #MeToo movement not only broke barriers internationally, it also created waves within Pakistan and encouraged women to speak up against their predators and abusers. Today, Pakistanis...
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#TherapistDiaries: What schizophrenia is – and isn’t
If you start seeing, hearing and feeling things which nobody else can, you are either going to be tagged as having a ghostly experience or be labelled as a dangerous and ‘crazy’ person. And the problem...
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292 mass shootings in 220 days – is gun violence the new normal in the US?
Given the frequency at which mass shootings take place in the United States (US), one might think that it is a normal phenomenon. But there is nothing normal about a person opening fire in a crowded...
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Why we should not ‘force’ our children to watch the ritual of qurbani
Children from the entire area had gathered on the roadside, nearby a lavish bungalow in our community. A sacrifice was about to be offered in the name of God. I looked at their faces: frantic, joyous,...
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#TherapistDiaries: Dissociative Identity Disorder, the reality of multiple...
Imagine living in a helpless situation where you have no control over your life. You hold no power to transform or get out of it, where the inner world of imagination is the only escape. This is the...
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Is climate change impacting our mental health?
Numerous studies have been conducted in an attempt to gauge the adverse effects of climate on human development. One of the many unfortunate facets of climate change that are currently being explored...
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The psychological impact of Covid-19 on youngsters
In the past few months, the world has tried relentlessly to tackle the rapid spread of coronavirus across countries. In such unprecedented times, even though the number of cases and fatalities have now...
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