Bipolar disorder
Psychological support alongside psychiatric care at the Psychological Help Centre, Karachi — in clinic in PECHS and DHA, or online wherever you are.
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What people describe
People arrive here from two directions. Some already have the diagnosis and a psychiatrist, and want the part medicine does not cover. Others are someone's wife, husband, parent or sibling, reading at eleven at night because they do not know what else to do.
What people describe is not one state but a shape over time. Long stretches that look like low mood — flat, heavy, nothing worth doing. And then periods that are the opposite and much harder to describe from the inside: sleeping three hours and not tired, a mind that is fast and certain, decisions taken quickly, money spent. People often describe those weeks afterwards as the best they have felt, which is part of what makes them difficult.
It is the afterwards that people bring. The evening in which it ends and the room is full of what happened — a resignation, a purchase, a relationship that has changed. And the sentence people say most: that was not me, and it was.
Families describe the vigilance. Watching sleep. Reading a tone of voice on the phone. Never quite unpacking, because things have been well for four months and nobody trusts four months.
This page describes; it does not assess you, and there is nothing here to score yourself against. Bipolar disorder in particular is not something anyone can conclude from a page or a video — it is a clinical judgement made over time, with a psychiatrist involved.
When it is worth speaking to someone
There is no threshold to cross first, and you do not need a diagnosis in hand to make an appointment.
What a clinician pays attention to is pattern over time rather than how you are today: stretches of low mood that came and went in a shape, periods where sleep dropped away without tiredness following, decisions that are hard to recognise afterwards. That history is why one conversation is not enough and an assessment is.
Said plainly, because this page must not be misread. If bipolar disorder is in question or already diagnosed, a psychiatrist is central to it. PHC's clinicians are clinical psychologists: we do not prescribe, do not adjust medication, and will never advise anyone to stop or change what a psychiatrist has prescribed. Psychological support sits beside that care — not instead of it.
Only a qualified clinician can tell you what is going on — a website cannot. What a page like this can tell you is that the psychological half of this is real work, and that people do it.
How PHC approaches it
PHC is an assessment-first practice, and here that matters twice over: a low stretch on its own and a low stretch that is part of a longer pattern look identical in a single session.
- An initial sessionWe ask what has been going on, over what span of time, and what it has cost you — and, with your agreement, we may want the account of someone who has watched it from outside.
- Emotional assessment and symptom screeningA structured screening of emotional functioning and what you are presenting with, using internationally validated instruments. Its purpose is to decide which further tests, if any, are clinically warranted — you will not be given tests you do not need.
- Working alongside a psychiatristWhere bipolar disorder is in question or established, PHC works with a psychiatrist rather than around one. If you do not have one, we will say so and help you get to one. If you do, the psychological work is built to sit alongside theirs.
- Therapy, reviewed as it goesWhere psychological therapy is indicated alongside psychiatric care, the modality most often used at PHC is CBT, which the practice uses for depression, anxiety and negative thought patterns. Where a household has carried this for years, family psychotherapy may be part of the work. Sessions are 50 minutes, in clinic at our PECHS clinic or in DHA, or online.
Who you would see
Psychologists at PHC hold a minimum postgraduate qualification in clinical psychology and over 800 supervised clinical hours.
Straight about the evidence: PHC name Prof. Dr. Tahira Yousaf and Sana Shameem for bipolar disorder, and that comes from the practice rather than from the areas of practice either of them has published. Of Prof. Dr. Tahira Yousaf, PHC tell us she "specialises in the treatment of Borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder and OCD through hypnotherapy". One clinician's own list names mood disorders, the category it sits in, and that is what their card says — no more.
Who you see is decided at the initial session, not before it — ask us beforehand and we will tell you.
Questions people ask first
I already have a psychiatrist. What does a psychologist add?
Different work, not competing work. A psychiatrist manages diagnosis and medication. Psychological sessions deal with the parts medicine does not reach: what the last episode did to a marriage or a job, the fear of the next one, and how a family lives around it without watching each other constantly.
Can therapy replace my medication?
No. PHC's clinicians are psychologists and do not prescribe, adjust or discontinue anything. Do not stop or change medication on the basis of a website, and never without the doctor who prescribed it. That conversation belongs with your psychiatrist.
Can PHC tell me whether I have bipolar disorder?
Not on its own, and not quickly. Assessment at PHC describes what is presenting and contributes to the clinical picture, and where bipolar disorder is in question that picture is completed with a psychiatrist. Anyone offering that answer in one appointment is going faster than the question allows.
My husband — or my daughter — has this. Can I be seen?
Yes. Families come on their own account: what this is doing to you, what helps, what does not, and what is in your control. Where the work belongs to the household rather than one person, family psychotherapy may be the route.
Confidentiality, session length, fees and choosing your psychologist are answered in full in questions people ask before booking.
Speaking to someone starts here
PHC is appointment-only. Message or call and a real person answers — Monday to Saturday, 10am to 8pm PKT.
Not sure whether this is us? Contact us anyway. We will tell you directly whether we can help, and refer you elsewhere if we cannot.
Six details, and we can match you
- Name of the person who will attend
- Their age
- What is going on, in your own words
- Whether you would prefer a male or female psychologist
- Online, or in clinic in Karachi
- Whether the person attending is a minor or elderly
If someone else is paying, we will also ask for guardian or payer details. A slot is held once the booking payment is received — half the fee, at least 24 hours ahead.