Arjumand Rahim opens up about anxiety and multiple ER visits
Arjumand Rahim is one of Pakistani television’s most enduring and respected performers. She began her career in the 1990s and has built a body of work that spans three decades, evolving alongside the industry itself and consistently delivering performances that leave a mark. Her recent role in Sher reminded audiences precisely what she is capable of, earning widespread praise and reinforcing her standing as one of the finest actors of her generation. Away from the screen, however, she has been quietly navigating a health struggle that was far more frightening than anything she has portrayed on camera.
Appearing as a guest on Vasay Chaudhary’s show, Arjumand spoke with remarkable candour about a period in her life when she repeatedly found herself in the emergency room with no clear explanation for what was happening to her body. She described feeling faint and physically unwell on multiple occasions, with each ER visit leaving her more shaken than the last. Adding to her fear was a deeply personal detail: her father had passed away due to cardiac arrest, and the physical symptoms she was experiencing brought that grief rushing back in the most frightening way possible. Every episode of faintness or discomfort carried the shadow of that loss.
It was only when she received a proper diagnosis that the picture began to make sense. She was found to be suffering from extreme anxiety and depression, conditions that had been manifesting through very real and alarming physical symptoms. For someone who had not understood what was happening to her, the diagnosis, while difficult to hear, was also the beginning of clarity. She sought professional help, underwent therapy, and received the treatment she needed to begin recovering.
She described the period before the diagnosis as truly frightening, a time when she did not know what was wrong with her and could not explain what her body was doing or why. The uncertainty, layered on top of grief and the physical toll of the episodes themselves, made for an extraordinarily difficult stretch of time.
The good news, and she was clear about this, is that she is doing significantly better now. The treatment worked, and the willingness to seek help made the difference.
Her decision to speak openly about what she went through carries weight beyond her own story. In Pakistan, conversations around mental health and its physical manifestations remain challenging, and the stigma surrounding anxiety, depression and therapy continues to prevent many people from reaching out. When a figure of Arjumand Rahim’s stature speaks plainly about her own diagnosis and her experience of getting treatment, it sends a message that reaching for help is not weakness but the beginning of getting better. That is a message worth hearing.
