Nighat Ara

Psychiatrist, Counsellor and Therapist

Men’s anxiety and other mental health issues

Scientific studies report that anxiety disorder is more common among women than in men. There are gender specific social teachings that contribute to mental health problems in both men and women.

Pahela Baishakh 2022: Pahela Baishakh is back

Hypochondriac and OCD during the pandemic

The pandemic has significantly impacted overall mental health of the general population. Extent and severity of symptoms would vary from person to person, depending on the balance between adversities of life and available resources to cope with it.

Is post-partum depression real?

These changes in classification do not make post-partum depression unreal at all. This mental condition, although rare, does exist.

Mental health impacts of COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic related mental health issues are an evolving multi-layered phenomenon that warrants appropriate attention and necessary action.

Money, mind and behavioural addictions

Invention of ‘money’ is hard to trace back, but historians believe metal objects were first used as money before the time of written history.

Lies and liars

Well-orchestrated systemic historical lies are used to oppress others. Lies repeated over and over again becomes perceived truth to the public. Those lies are used deliberately for political gains. Culturally accepted lies (e.g. in our culture, people lie about age all the time) allow people to cater more lies.

The depressed millennials

It is one of the most common things being discussed nowadays — millennials and depression. Being one of the most highly educated generations that grew up with the technological wave, it should not be so. Then again, it is the same generation that went through a global recession in their growing years, no matter which country they hail from. As the generation is more aware of mental illness, they are also addressing their various mental health issues.

Parenting and LGBTQA+

Just a generation back, parenting seemed simpler and anything could be handled with a sound scolding and an occasional smack or two. For parents of current times, things have become more complicated than ever.

Mob Behaviour

A very disturbing trend of violent mob behaviour has erupted in some parts of the country lately. Lynching a woman over a rumour of child abduction is quite unnerving for any normal person.

Impact of addiction on family and society

Addiction is a bio-psycho-social disease, meaning genetic predisposition interacts with certain social and psychological factors to manifest the disease, which could otherwise have remained dormant for the rest of someone’s life.

Job satisfaction

Culture is powerful because it is so deeply entrenched in the psyche and lifestyle of a population that it becomes very difficult to name it, separate or identify it even though we know it exists. Culture of a population is palpable at every area of life including workplace.

Healing from grief

Many people today do not know how to grieve in a healthy way. In a fast paced society, people often have no time to allow this natural process to complete its course.

“She asked for it”

Sexual violence against women is often justified by putting blame on women. If a woman gets sexually assaulted, the whole of society tends to point fingers at the woman.

Sexual violence

To understand sexual violence, it might be helpful to shed some light on sexuality and gender first, which are often the underlying issues of sexual violence. Being cognisant of the fact that sexuality and gender are both very complex and vast subjects, I'll only touch on issues relevant to this topic.

Childhood romances: The two sides of the same coin

Childhood romance has bitter sweet aspects to it. By childhood, I mean age groups of young children, preadolescents, pre-teens and early teens.

Addiction, love and recovery

Substance abuse disorder can destroy different areas of life in various degrees, depending on the nature and extent of the disease.

What's in a wedding?

Traditionally, the celebration of a union of two lives, weddings can have religious (nikah), social (receptions), and cultural (holud) aspects, at times, with an added financial one (dowry!), depending on the families involved.

Impacts of excessive sadness

Humans are emotional beings, meaning that a wide range of emotions are normal in human experiences, some of which are called negative emotions and some are called positive, depending on the kind of physiological response it evokes.

Lessons on morality

Morality is a heavily loaded contentious topic. We can explore it carefully to examine its benefits and drawbacks at individual, community or social level.

Addiction: the silent catastrophe

Addiction is a common problem that silently haunts many families around the world. Ignorance, secrecy and social stigma make this problem worse with consequent shame and isolation. Addiction is often defined as a pathological relationship with an external mood-altering agent despite all the negative consequences it brings.

Dealing with Stress

Stress is part and parcel of modern life and it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Positive stress motivates us and helps us to get things done. I suspect most of us would be living a vegetative life if there were no internal or external stressors at all to deal with! However, stress becomes negative when it demands too much personal and

Fixing a broken marriage

If we look at the history of marriage, it appears that back in the 18th century, marriage was mostly an economic arrangement. Marriage was used to manage wealth through merging properties of two families and then ensuring it through inheritance laws. Marriage also played a vital role in maintaining social class and adhering to the same social group (e.g. Brahman marrying Brahman or rich marrying rich etc.). In

Geriatric care — life after retirement

The average lifespan has increased in Bangladesh which means more people are now living in their 70's, 80's and 90's.

Interpreter of maladies

Q. Youngsters are very much into 'slumber parties.' Even we had them in our teen days but that was more than one and a half decade ago. How should parents handle the demand for night outs by girls and boys? Is it necessary, does it have good aspects to it, or is it all bad?