Conditions we work with

Most people arrive here with a description rather than a diagnosis — he will not sleep, she has stopped going out, we argue about the same thing every week. That is the right way to arrive, and it is how these pages are written. None of them is a checklist to score yourself against. Each one sets out how a difficulty commonly shows up, when it is worth speaking to someone, what PHC does about it and who you would see, in that order — so once you have read one page you know where to look on the next.

The six groups below are our arrangement rather than a clinical taxonomy. They exist so that twenty-seven pages can be scanned in under a minute instead of read as an alphabetical list. Several presentations sit honestly in more than one group, and where that is true the page is filed under the one most people look in first — persistent lying and stealing under children rather than under habits, sleep under worry rather than under low mood. Only a qualified clinician can tell you which of these, if any, describes what is happening. A website cannot, and no page here will try.

Group 1 — Worry, panic and sleep

• Anxietyhow anxiety commonly shows up, and when it is worth speaking to someone.
• Panic attacks and panic disorderwhat a panic attack is, and why it is not dangerous even when it feels it.
• Social anxietyhow it differs from shyness, in teenagers and in adults.
• Sleep disturbancetrouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking far too early.
• Work-related stresschronic work stress, exhaustion and the dread of Monday.

Group 2 — Low mood, and how you feel about yourself

• Depressionwhat it can look like day to day, and the difference between low mood and something more.
• Low self-esteempersistent self-criticism, avoidance and comparison.
• Frequent cryingcrying more than usual, or for no reason you can name.
• Life transitions and adjustmentbereavement, migration, a job ending, a family changing shape.
• Bipolar disorderpsychological support alongside psychiatric care, not instead of it.
• Personality disorderswhat the diagnosis means, and what it does not.

Group 3 — Children, teenagers and school

• ADHDwhat an assessment involves, what the report tells you, and what follows it.
• Autismhow PHC assesses autism in children and adults, and the support that follows.
• Learning difficultiesdifficulty with reading, writing or keeping up in class.
• Parenting difficultiesbehaviour, discipline, school refusal, and support for parents.
• Stealing in children and teenagerswhy a child takes things that are not theirs.
• Persistent lyingpersistent or compulsive lying in children and adults.

Group 4 — Marriage, family and relationships

• Marital conflictrecurring conflict, distance, or a breakdown in talking.
• Family difficultiesconflict between generations, in-law pressure, and households under strain.
• Anger difficultiesanger that is damaging relationships or work.
• Sexual difficultiesconfidential support for individuals and for couples.

Group 5 — Habits and urges that are hard to stop

• OCDobsessional and compulsive patterns in adults and children.
• Addictionsupport around substance use and behavioural addictions.
• Quitting smokingthe psychological side of stopping.
• Weight and emotional eatingeating patterns, body image and emotional eating.
• Hair pullingcompulsive hair pulling, or trichotillomania.

Group 6 — Trauma, abuse and safety

• PTSDpost-traumatic stress after a single event, or over years.

Assessment comes first at PHC. The first session is a conversation about what has been going on, and it decides which — if any — further assessment is clinically warranted. Nobody is given tests they do not need, and no page on this site promises a label. See every assessment PHC offers.

What follows the assessment depends on what it finds. Our psychologists are trained in a range of therapies and are matched to a presentation rather than assigned by whoever is free — see every therapy, or see every psychologist at PHC, where each profile says what that clinician is trained in and how many supervised hours they hold.

Sessions run in clinic at PECHS, in clinic at DHA Phase 8, or online, across Pakistan and in every time zone.