Trauma
Trauma counseling,
at a pace you set
The present-day effects of frightening or overwhelming experiences: sleep, avoidance, being easily startled, and reactions that seem out of proportion.
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Fee
- Rs. 2,000
- Pace
- You set it
- Languages
- English · Urdu · Punjabi
Trauma-related counseling at The Bonding Corner addresses the present-day effects of frightening or overwhelming experiences, including sleep disruption, avoidance and being easily startled. Sessions are online with psychologist Zahid Sohail, and specialised trauma protocols are only offered where his training covers them.
If you are in immediate danger, or if the harm is still happening, safety comes before therapy. Contact local emergency services, or a person who can help you get somewhere safe, now.
What this practice works with
Zahid Sohail works with trauma and its present-day effects, including three areas people most often find hard to raise anywhere else.
Naming them here is deliberate. People frequently spend months deciding whether a concern is serious enough to bring, and a page that lists nothing makes that harder rather than easier.
- Trauma from a single event or a long period of fear. Accidents, violence, medical events, bereavement in difficult circumstances, or years in an unsafe situation.
- Relationship trauma. The effects of a relationship in which you were controlled, frightened, repeatedly humiliated or made to doubt your own account of events, including where that relationship has ended.
- Sexual harassment and psychosexual concerns. The effects of harassment or assault, at work, in education or at home, and difficulties with intimacy that follow from them.
- What is not offered: medication, a formal diagnosis on paper, a medico-legal report or a court statement. Those are a psychiatrist, a physician or a lawyer.
No named trauma protocol such as EMDR, CPT or prolonged exposure is offered or implied here. The work is structured conversation at a pace you set. If a protocol-based or in-person service would serve you better, you should expect to be told so rather than booked in.
Present-day effects
What trauma-related difficulty looks like
The experience is in the past; the effects are in the present. People describe sleep that does not restore, a body that reacts before the mind has decided anything, and situations avoided for reasons that are hard to explain to anyone else.
It does not require a single dramatic event. Sustained fear over a long period produces much the same effects, and often with more self-doubt about whether it counts.
What people describe
Having several of these does not confirm a diagnosis, and this page does not offer one.
- Being easily startled, or constantly scanning a room
- Sleep broken by dreams, or avoided altogether
- Avoiding places, people or conversations connected to what happened
- Numbness, or feeling at a distance from your own life
- Reactions that seem disproportionate to you afterwards
- Difficulty trusting, including trusting your own judgement
How sessions are paced
Nothing has to be retold to be worked on, and certainly not in a first session. Early work is usually about stability in the present: sleep, grounding, what makes a bad day worse, and what helps afterwards.
You decide what to describe and when. Pushing for detail before someone is ready is not thoroughness, it is harm.
If specialist trauma-focused therapy is what you need, the right answer is a referral, not an approximation of it here.
When specialist care is needed
Some situations need more than counseling, or need it alongside medical care.
- Ongoing danger: safety arrangements come before therapeutic work.
- Severe symptoms, or symptoms that are worsening: medical assessment first.
- Substance use that has grown around the symptoms.
- A formal PTSD diagnosis or medication, which is a psychiatrist’s role.
Psychologist or psychiatrist? explains who does what.
Who wrote this
Written by Zahid Sohail
Psychologist and founder of The Bonding Corner. MSc and PGD in Applied Psychology, more than 15 years in practice, working in English, Urdu and Punjabi.
Last reviewed:
This page is general information, not a diagnosis, and counseling does not replace medical care. About Zahid Sohail · Mental health words in Urdu
What the research says
- Around 70% of people experience a potentially traumatic event in their lifetime, and a minority, about 5.6%, go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. [1]
- The WHO names trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and EMDR as the approaches with the strongest evidence for PTSD. If you need one of these specifically, you will be told so and referred. [1]
References
[1] World Health Organization. Post-traumatic stress disorder, fact sheet (updated 11 September 2026). www.who.int
If you are thinking about ending your life or are in danger now, call Rescue 1122 or Police 15, or Umang’s 24-hour helpline on 0311 7786264. Online counseling is not an emergency service. All helplines in Pakistan.
Questions, answered
Questions people ask.
What counts as trauma?
In everyday use it covers events that overwhelmed your ability to cope at the time and that still affect you now. Whether a particular event qualifies is not something you need to settle before asking.
Do I have to describe what happened in detail?
No. You can say that you would rather not discuss something yet, and that is respected. Useful work is possible without a full account of the event.
Does the practice work with sexual harassment or psychosexual concerns?
Yes. Zahid Sohail works with the effects of harassment or assault at work, in education or at home, and with difficulties around intimacy that follow from them. You decide how much detail to give and when.
Can counseling help after an abusive or controlling relationship?
Yes. Relationship trauma is one of the areas this practice works with, including where the relationship has ended and where you are still doubting your own account of what happened.
Do you use EMDR or another named trauma protocol?
No named protocol such as EMDR, CPT or prolonged exposure is offered here. The work is structured conversation at a pace you set. If a protocol-based or in-person service would suit you better, you should expect to be told so rather than booked in.
Is online counseling appropriate for trauma?
It depends on the situation and on having a genuinely private, stable setting. Where a specialist or in-person service is the better fit, you should expect to be told so.
What if talking about it makes things worse?
That risk is real and is why pace is set by you rather than by a protocol. If symptoms are severe or worsening, medical assessment comes before therapeutic work.
Explore further
Where would you like to go next?
You do not have to describe what happened to book a call.
Ten minutes is enough to work out whether this is the right service or whether you need a specialist.