Health writers · Aslam Clinic
The clinic's health writers. Every article the team writes is checked by a named clinician before it is published, and again whenever guidance changes.
87 articles in the wiki
Psychology
Addiction is a treatable health condition, not a moral failing. How it changes the brain, which withdrawals are dangerous, what treatment involves and how families can help.
27 Sept 20269 min read
Psychology
Adult ADHD is real, under-diagnosed in women, and over-claimed online. How it looks, how to get assessed, what treatment does, and why study pills are a bad bet.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
ADHD is more than an active child. What the signs are, what else can look like it, how it is assessed, and which treatments help at each age.
27 Sept 20269 min read
Psychology
Anger is a normal emotion. It becomes a problem when it is frequent, intense or harmful — and venting it tends to make it worse, not better.
27 Sept 20269 min read
Psychology
What antidepressants treat, how long they take, common side effects, whether they are addictive, and why you should never stop them suddenly.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Attachment theory is solid science, but the four “styles” online are a simplification. They are sliding scales, not fixed types, and they can change.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Early signs of autism by age, the difference between a late talker and an autistic child, how diagnosis works, what support helps — and the 'cures' that harm.
27 Sept 202610 min read
Psychology
Bipolar disorder causes episodes of depression and of mania or hypomania. With the right medicine, a steady routine and a relapse plan, most people live full lives.
27 Sept 20269 min read
Psychology
BPD causes intense, fast-changing emotions, fear of abandonment and self-harm. It is treatable with specialist therapy, and most people improve over time.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Burnout is exhaustion, cynicism and falling effectiveness caused by chronic work stress. How it differs from depression, who is at risk, and what actually helps.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Abuse, neglect and a chaotic home raise the odds of illness in adulthood — but an ACE score is not a sentence, and safe relationships change the outcome.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Long-term pain is real, but the nervous system can turn its volume up. Movement and psychological therapy help more than ever-stronger painkillers.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Codependency is a popular idea, not a diagnosis. Caring deeply for family is healthy; losing yourself entirely, or enabling someone's harm, is not.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
CBT helps you spot the thoughts and habits that keep anxiety and low mood going, and test them in real life. What happens in sessions, what it treats, and its limits.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Cognitive biases are predictable errors built into normal thinking. Knowing the common ones helps you judge medicines, forwards and advice more clearly.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Dopamine is less a 'happy chemical' than a signal for wanting, learning and movement. Here is what it does, how drugs and apps exploit it, and what 'dopamine detox' misses.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Eating disorders are serious, treatable mental illnesses that affect boys and men as well as girls, and people of every weight. Here is what to look for and what helps.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Emotional intelligence is a real, measurable set of skills — but the popular claim that ‘EQ matters more than IQ’ goes further than the evidence.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Some exam nerves help; panic, sleepless nights and study pills do not. Study methods that work, sleep and food before exams, and how parents can help.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Regular exercise, including brisk walking, reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety in clinical trials. It works best as part of care, not instead of it.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Most heavy gamers do not have gaming disorder. The line is crossed when gaming takes control and damages sleep, studies, work or family life for months.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Gaslighting is a pattern of manipulation that makes you doubt your own memory and judgement. It is not the same as an ordinary disagreement.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Grief has no fixed stages or timetable. What normal grief looks like, how faith and family help, how children grieve, and when grief needs professional support.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Health anxiety is persistent fear of having a serious illness despite reassurance. Checking, googling and repeated tests keep it going; CBT breaks the cycle.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Habits form by repeating an action in the same situation until the situation triggers it. It takes about two months on average, not 21 days, and missing a day is fine.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Imposter syndrome is the persistent fear of being ‘found out’ despite real achievement. It is common, it is not a diagnosis, and specific habits help.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Insomnia disorder means poor sleep at least three nights a week for three months, with daytime effects. CBT-I, not sleeping pills, is the first-line treatment.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Diabetes and heart disease are managed mostly by the patient, every day. Frustration and burnout are common — and low mood shows up in your sugar readings.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Loneliness is the gap between the connection you have and the connection you need. It affects about one in six people and carries real health risks.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Maslow proposed five human needs in 1943, but he never drew the famous pyramid, and the strict step-by-step order has weak support. The core idea still helps.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Mental illness is common in Pakistan and most people never get treatment. How stigma and beliefs shape help-seeking, and where to find help.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Mindfulness helps prevent depression coming back and can ease stress modestly. What it is, what the research shows, a three-minute exercise, and its limits.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Narcissistic personality disorder is a real but uncommon diagnosis. Most people called “narcissists” online have never been assessed — and many do not have it.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
OCD is not about being tidy. It is a cycle of unwanted, distressing thoughts and the rituals used to neutralise them — and it responds well to ERP therapy and SSRIs.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Overthinking is repetitive thinking that goes round without reaching a decision. Worry time, shifting attention and getting active break the loop better than thinking harder.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
A panic attack is a sudden surge of fear with a racing heart and breathlessness. It feels like dying, but it is not dangerous, and panic disorder is very treatable.
27 Sept 202610 min read
Psychology
The Big Five is the personality model best supported by research. MBTI and the Enneagram are popular, but their types are far less reliable than people assume.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
A phobia is a fear far bigger than the danger, strong enough to shape your life. Exposure therapy treats most phobias, often in a few sessions.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Expecting to feel better can ease pain and nausea; expecting side effects can cause them. Neither cures disease — and both matter in the clinic.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Baby blues pass within two weeks. Postnatal depression lasts longer, is common in Pakistan, and gets better with treatment. Postpartum psychosis is an emergency.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Procrastination is less about laziness than about avoiding bad feelings. Understanding that changes which strategies actually work.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
A psychiatrist is a doctor who can diagnose and prescribe; a clinical psychologist treats with talking therapy. How to choose, and how to check who you are seeing.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Most people shaken by a terrible event recover on their own. When the fear keeps replaying months later, that is PTSD — and trauma-focused therapy works.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Resilience is not a rare personality trait. It is a common process of adapting to hardship, built from relationships, skills and resources — not willpower alone.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Psychosis means losing touch with what is real; schizophrenia is one cause of it. Both are treatable, and the sooner treatment starts, the better recovery tends to be.
27 Sept 202610 min read
Psychology
Self-esteem is the opinion you hold of yourself. Low self-esteem is common and changeable — but boosting it with praise alone does not work.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Self-harm is usually a way of coping with overwhelming feelings, not attention-seeking. How to respond calmly, when injuries need hospital care, and what treatment helps.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Social anxiety disorder is an intense, lasting fear of being judged or embarrassed that shapes what a person avoids. It is common, and CBT treats it well.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Heavy social media use is linked to poorer mental health, but the average effect is small and experts disagree about cause. Here is who is most at risk and what helps.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
How to find a qualified therapist in Pakistan, the questions to ask, what happens in the first session, what stays confidential, and what to do if it isn't helping.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Stress hormones raise blood pressure and blood sugar in minutes. Kept switched on for months, 'tension' strains the heart, sleep, gut and immunity.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Suicidal thoughts are a sign of overwhelming pain, not weakness — and the crisis usually passes. How to recognise the signs, ask directly, and get help in Pakistan.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Tantrums are normal from about 18 months and fade by 4. What to do in the moment, how to prevent the next one, why smacking backfires, and when to get help.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Moodiness is normal in teenagers; weeks of withdrawal, self-harm or not eating are not. How to tell the difference, how to talk, and when to get help.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
A trauma bond is a strong emotional tie to someone who hurts you, built by cycles of cruelty and kindness. It explains why leaving is hard — it is not weakness.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
What CBT, DBT, ACT, EMDR, psychodynamic, interpersonal, family and group therapy involve, what each is best evidenced for, and how long each usually takes.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Psychology
Pain, dizziness or even seizures can come from how the nervous system is working rather than from damage. The symptoms are real, and they can be treated.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Tests & Diagnostics
HbA1c is your average blood sugar over the last two to three months. What the bands mean, what a good target is, and the common conditions that make it unreliable.
31 Aug 202610 min read
Pediatrics
The danger in childhood diarrhoea is dehydration, not the diarrhoea. Exactly how to mix and give ORS, how much zinc, and the signs that mean hospital now.
30 Aug 202610 min read
Nutrition & Lifestyle
Smokeless tobacco is not the safe option. What naswar, paan, gutka and shisha actually do, what happens when you stop, and a method for stopping that works.
30 Aug 202611 min read
Mental Health
Anxiety is a real illness with real physical symptoms, and it responds to treatment. What helps, what makes it worse, and why alprazolam is the wrong first answer.
29 Aug 202612 min read
Tests & Diagnostics
Line by line through a CBC report — haemoglobin, MCV, the white cell differential and platelets — with what a flagged value usually means and what it does not.
29 Aug 202612 min read
Mental Health
Depression is not weakness or a lack of faith. How to tell it from ordinary sadness, what treatment involves, and what to do if someone is thinking of ending their life.
29 Aug 202613 min read
Infectious Diseases
Most dengue is survived at home. The danger opens on days three to seven, usually as the fever falls. These are the warning signs that mean hospital now.
28 Aug 202614 min read
Pediatrics
A fever is the body fighting an infection. Most settle at home. These are the signs that mean go now, how to dose paracetamol safely, and what not to do.
28 Aug 202611 min read
Medicines & Safety
The safe adult maximum is 4 g in 24 hours. Above that it damages the liver, and for the first day or two an overdose causes almost no symptoms at all.
28 Aug 202611 min read
Neurology
Face drooping, arm weakness, speech trouble — any one of them, appearing suddenly, is a stroke until proven otherwise. Call 1122 and note the time.
28 Aug 202611 min read
Pulmonology
In Pakistan a cough lasting two weeks or more should be tested for tuberculosis. What else causes a long cough, and the signs that mean see a doctor now.
27 Aug 202610 min read
Ophthalmology
Diabetes damages the retina silently for years before sight changes at all. What the yearly eye check looks for, what the stages mean, and what treatment can still save.
27 Aug 202613 min read
Nutrition & Lifestyle
You do not need imported food or a diet plan. Half the plate vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter roti or rice, and honest amounts of oil, salt and sugar.
27 Aug 202613 min read
Medicines & Safety
They do nothing for colds, flu, dengue or most coughs. What antibiotics really treat, why buying them without a prescription is dangerous, and what resistance has already cost Pakistan.
26 Aug 202611 min read
Cardiology
Chest pain lasting more than a few minutes with sweating, breathlessness or pain spreading to the arm or jaw is an emergency. Call Rescue 1122 now.
25 Aug 202611 min read
Dermatology
Eczema is a leaky skin barrier plus an over-reactive immune system. Moisturiser is the treatment, not the afterthought — and steroid creams are safer than most people fear.
25 Aug 20269 min read
Pulmonology
Wheeze, night cough and breathlessness that come and go. What asthma actually is, why the preventer matters more than the blue inhaler, and when an attack is an emergency.
24 Aug 202611 min read
ENT
Most sore throats are viral and settle in a week without an antibiotic. How to spot the ones that are not, what helps, and why rheumatic fever changes the rules here.
24 Aug 202612 min read
Dermatology
Acne is a blocked, inflamed oil gland, not dirt and not a punishment for oily food. What actually clears it, how long it takes, and the creams that make it worse.
21 Aug 202611 min read
Gastroenterology
Burning behind the breastbone after meals is usually reflux, not the heart — but not always. What settles it, what makes it worse, and when it needs a camera test.
19 Aug 202610 min read
Gastroenterology
IBS is a real disorder of how the gut and brain communicate, not nerves or imagination. Diagnosis is positive rather than a process of exclusion, and several treatments work.
19 Aug 20269 min read
Cardiology
LDL is the number that matters, and the report alone does not decide treatment. How to read a lipid profile, and what genuinely brings cholesterol down.
14 Aug 202611 min read
Women's Health
Weeks one to thirteen: what is normal, what is not, the folic acid and tests that matter, and the signs that mean going to hospital rather than waiting.
14 Aug 202613 min read
Orthopedics
Worn knee cartilage is common after 45 and rarely means surgery is coming. Exercise and weight carry more evidence than any tablet, injection or supplement.
11 Aug 202610 min read
Orthopedics
Most low back pain settles within six weeks without a scan. What genuinely helps, what to skip, and the warning signs that need same-day care.
11 Aug 202610 min read
Neurology
Migraine is a neurological condition, not a bad headache. What sets an attack off, what stops one, and which headaches need a scan rather than a tablet.
11 Aug 202612 min read
Infectious Diseases
A fever that climbs day by day for a week, with headache and belly pain. Why the Widal test misleads, and what drug-resistant typhoid changes here.
11 Aug 202611 min read
Nephrology & Urology
Burning, urgency and going every few minutes. What settles with a short course, what needs a urine culture, and why the pharmacy antibiotic often fails.
5 Aug 202610 min read
Women's Health
Bleeding that soaks through pads, lasts over seven days or leaves you exhausted is not something to put up with. What causes it, and what treats it.
22 Jul 202612 min read
Nephrology & Urology
The pain arrives without warning and will not let you sit still. What passes on its own, what needs a procedure, and how to stop the next one forming.
9 Jul 202611 min read
.webp&w=3840&q=75)
