Clinical Psychologist Dubai
With 20 years of experience as a clinical psychologist, I relocated to the United Arab Emirates in 2019. I offer therapy for adults struggling with depression, anxiety, painful experiences, negative thoughts, uncomfortable emotional states, unhealthy behaviours, and complex relationship patterns. Practicing as a clinical psychologist in Dubai, a multi-cultural metropolis, affirms the universality of humankind – similar mental health issues occur across all nationalities.
What Do You See?
The image at the top of the page can be viewed as a rabbit or a duck. It illustrates that what we apprehend is not always accurate, particularly when it comes to the factors underlying our mental health.
We all experience psychological distress that can at times become impossible to deal with on our own. Starting therapy requires the courage to admit that something is not working in our lives.
My Approach
My approach is psychodynamic. It works with unconscious patterns, internalized images of early relationships, trauma, relational dynamics, and defensive strategies that shape current difficulties. Understanding them is the first step toward change.
Aims of Therapy
There are two primary aims of Psychodynamic Therapy:
1. Developing Greater Insight
The development of greater psychological insight begins with talking about your current difficulties and the history that shapes them. Through this, your underlying patterns of feeling and reacting come into view as the present is linked to the past.
You may wonder how the past shapes the present. We all experience its influence when a remark or tone of voice evokes unexpected emotions, skewed perceptions, and defensive responses. When a small remark produces a large reaction, the size of the reaction usually points to something older that has been touched.
You are encouraged to freely express your thoughts, feelings, and experiences in sessions. I offer observations, and your feedback helps to clarify how these patterns work and what they protect against. e.g. exploring how past rejection shapes current distrust and serves a protective function.
Therapy brings into view the patterns that have been operating without your knowing, and the experiences from which they took shape. Understanding alone does not undo them, but it makes the changes that follow possible.
2. Actively Applying Insight
Insight alone rarely produces change. Many people arrive at therapy expecting that understanding why they are the way they are will be sufficient — that once the source of a difficulty is identified, the difficulty will resolve. This expectation is intuitive, but does not match how psychological change actually occurs.
The patterns psychodynamic therapy addresses are emotional, automatic, and often laid down before words could be put to them. They operate fastest when you are under stress, in conflict, or close to someone — exactly the situations in which thinking clearly is hardest. Insight provides the map, but the work of changing direction has to be done in the moment, again and again, until the new way becomes familiar.
The work in this phase takes several forms:
· Present perceptions are recognised as shaped by templates from earlier relationships. For example, a work difficulty no longer reads as simple failure but as activating older messages about adequacy carried since childhood.
· Difficult feelings are tolerated rather than discharged defensively. For example, frustration that would once have produced withdrawal or sharp words is held long enough to understand what one is responding to.
· Defences become visible as they operate. For example, a difficult conversation that would once have ended in withdrawal can be stayed with and met directly.
· What is felt to come from another is recognised as originating within oneself. For example, criticism that seems to come from a colleague turns out, on examination, to be partly self-criticism cast outward.
· The harsh internal voice is recognised as belonging to an earlier relationship rather than to current reality. For example, the voice that calls one inadequate is heard as the echo of a parent or teacher whose standards were long ago internalised.
· Others' mental states are held in mind as distinct from one's own. For example, during a disagreement, imagining what the other person might be feeling and thinking, rather than assuming.
Three changes typically follow. Distress lessens because what once felt overwhelming can now be understood and met. Repeated patterns that have shaped your relationships, choices, and sense of self begin to weaken their hold. Your relationships with others change as you bring greater clarity to how you experience and respond to them.
The Study of Personality
The study of personality is a fundamental aspect to improving your mental health. Understanding your personality make-up in a fast-paced and demanding city like Dubai is vital. A clinical psychologist has a number of personality measures at their disposal.
The most valid personality test is the Big Five Model of Personality. It is made up of 5 factors (easily remembered as OCEAN) which drive our thoughts and behaviours. These factors are Openness To Experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. The specific combination of these 5 factors determines our individual personality make-up. This helps to explain why we all react differently, behave differently, and view the same situation in different ways.
Each of the five personality characteristics have high and low levels of expression. In turn, both high and low levels of expression have healthy and less healthy ways of expressing themselves. For example, high levels of Conscientiousness will generally show in a responsible character, although an excess of the trait can result in rigidity. Contrastingly, low levels of Conscientiousness typically indicate an easy-go-lucky quality, although a surplus of low Conscientiousness can result in unpredictability.
There is no ideal combination of personality attributes. That being said, our mental health may benefit from the improved regulation of certain aspects of our personality. For example, a person with high levels of agreeableness may find it advantageous to moderate this quality if they are repeatedly taken advantage of.
1. Openness to Experience
This factor relates to curiosity and a willingness to try novel experiences. High levels of openness to experience are associated with the pursuit of adventure and the holding of less traditional beliefs. Taken too far, this trait will show in risk-taking and unpredictability. On the other hand, low levels of openness to experience indicate a pragmatic and traditional quality. Contrastingly, very low levels of openness to experience show in a close-minded and rigid mindset.
2. Conscientiousness
This factor relates to self-discipline, responsibility, and a striving for achievement. High levels of conscientiousness reflect in a focused and determined approach. Taken to an extreme, this can manifest as inflexibility and an overly serious quality. Contrastingly, low levels of conscientiousness indicate a flexible and spontaneous disposition. Pushed too far, this risks disorganization and unreliability.
3. Extraversion
This factor relates to a pronounced engagement with the external world and is often mistakenly assumed to be a preferred attribute (in contrast to introversion). On a positive note, high levels of extraversion reflect in a cheerful and sociable disposition. However, exaggerated levels of extraversion manifest in attention-seeking behaviour and a difficulty with spending time alone. On the other hand, low levels of extraversion (i.e. introversion) indicate a reserved and deliberate quality. Taken too far, this manifests in a tendency to withdraw and feelings of loneliness.
4. Agreeableness
This factor relates to a preference for social harmony. High levels of agreeableness show in a kind, trusting and forgiving disposition and are often seen in the caring professions (e.g. nursing, teaching, and the NGO sector). Taken too far, this can result in conflict avoidance, a lack of assertion, and the adoption of victimhood. Contrastingly, low levels of agreeableness reflect in a competitive and challenging disposition. Taken to an extreme, low agreeableness manifests in an argumentative and unfriendly interpersonal style.
5. Neuroticism
This factor relates to negative emotions. High levels of neuroticism indicate emotional depth, empathy and realism. Taken to an extreme, this manifests as emotional instability, vulnerability to stress, and pessimism. On the other hand, low levels of neuroticism reflect in emotional stability and a resilience to stress. Excessively low levels of neuroticism are typically seen in an emotional flatness and insensitivity to risk.