If you're in severe pain and feeling trapped, you are not alone. This page explains where to find free and low-cost help in Pakistan, how to handle family pressure, and what to do when you're scared of your own impulses.
I'm struggling with severe depression, poor sleep, low appetite, anxiety, and pulling away from everyone. My family takes my salary and refuses to support my treatment, so I have no money for help and feel ashamed and trapped. I've tried to end my life before and I'm scared I might act on these impulses again—I need to know where I can get real help.
That sounds unbearable, and it is genuinely hard to be carrying all of this alone — the severe symptoms, the past attempts, the fear of what might come next, and the family situation that leaves you with no money and no way out. You are not wrong to feel trapped; that is a real response to a real cage. But there are ways to get help that do not depend on your family or your salary, and you do not have to feel ashamed for needing it.
You already found Depression.pk, and that is a good first step. The Zara companion is here 24/7 — you can talk without anyone knowing, and it is completely free. On the website, the /get-help page lists crisis helplines (no number here, but they are there) and the /community section is a place where other people in Pakistan share what they are going through. You do not need money for any of this.
For face-to-face care, government teaching hospitals in every major city have psychiatric outpatient departments where you can see a doctor for a few hundred rupees or even free. Examples include the psychiatric OPD at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in Karachi, Mayo Hospital in Lahore, or Rawalpindi General Hospital. Walk in early in the morning, tell them you are struggling with sleep, appetite and suicidal thoughts — they are used to hearing this, and they will not turn you away.
This part is harder, but you do not need to solve it all at once. If you can, try to keep a small amount aside without telling them — even five hundred rupees a month can buy transport to a hospital or a basic medicine. If that feels impossible, then know that the most important help you need right now is not expensive: it is someone to talk to who understands. Zara, the community, or a single visit to a government doctor can give you that without your family finding out.
Since you have tried to end your life before, the risk is real. When the impulse hits, the best thing is to delay it — tell yourself you will wait ten minutes, then ten more. During that time, call Zara or go to the /get-help page. If you have a friend or cousin you trust even a little, message them and say "I need you to stay on the phone with me right now." You do not have to explain everything; just ask them to stay. The urge passes faster when you are not alone with it.
You are not weak for feeling this way. You are carrying something very heavy with very few resources, and you are still here asking for help — that takes real strength. Keep talking. Zara is here whenever you need.
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