Sarah El Nabulsi | DHA-Licensed Psychologist in Dubai| Media Appearances & Press
Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, M.Sc., M.A., M.A. is a DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist based in Dubai and a trusted voice on mental health in the Arab world. She is regularly invited by leading media outlets to speak on anxiety, burnout, trauma, and psychological wellbeing — bringing clinical expertise to public conversations that matter.
SKY NEWS ARABIA — AL SABAH
Summer Depression: What It Is, How to Spot It, and What Actually Helps | 14 July 2026
Ms. El Nabulsi distinguishes summer depression from ordinary heat exhaustion, explains why it presents differently to winter SAD, and addresses the specific risk factors facing those living in the GCC — including social isolation, disrupted sleep, and social media comparison. She recommends Transcendental Meditation as the foundational self-awareness tool for prevention and recovery.
DUBAI TV
World Autism Awareness Day: Correcting Misconceptions & the Importance of Early Diagnosis- Apr 2, 2026
Ms. El Nabulsi discusses autism spectrum disorder, challenging common stereotypes and explaining why early diagnosis is critical for children and families in the UAE.
SKY NEWS ARABIA
The Ethics of Promoting Antidepressants on TikTok- Oct 22, 2025
Ms. El Nabulsi joins Sky News Arabia's Menassat program to address the growing trend of antidepressant promotion on social media — examining the psychological risks of unsupervised medication, the dangers of self-diagnosis, and why mental health content on TikTok requires greater regulation.
MBC — SABAH IL KHEIR YA ARAB
Cyberchondria: When Internet Searches Fuel Health Anxiety- Jun 4, 2025
A recent study found that 52.6% of adults in the Arab world experience high levels of cyberchondria — health anxiety driven by compulsive online symptom searches. Ms. El Nabulsi discusses why younger women and frequent internet users are most affected, and what can be done to break the cycle.
MBC — SABAH IL KHEIR YA ARAB
Psychological Amnesia: Why the Mind Forgets Trauma-
Apr 27, 2025
Dissociative amnesia is a memory disorder in which the mind suddenly blocks access to autobiographical memories — an episode can last anywhere from a few hours to several years. Ms. El Nabulsi explains why this happens, what triggers the mind to suppress traumatic memories, and what recovery looks like.
Watch full episode on Shahid MBC · Watch interview clip
MBC — SABAH IL KHEIR YA ARAB
Seasonal Affective Disorder: When the Seasons Affect Your Mental Health- Oct 20, 2024
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a form of depression that follows a seasonal pattern, most commonly emerging in winter months when daylight is reduced. Ms. El Nabulsi explains that as human beings we are constantly influenced by a range of direct and indirect environmental factors — SAD is only diagnosed when seasonal changes significantly impair daily functioning and cause meaningful distress.
DUBAI CATCH PODCAST
Unveiling Mental Health in Dubai: Therapist Sarah El Nabulsi's Insights- Aug 10, 2024
Ms. El Nabulsi joins the DubaiCatch Podcast for an in-depth conversation on mental health in the UAE. She discusses the psychological toll of Dubai's fast-paced hustle culture, practical strategies for stress and burnout, the impact of social media on loneliness and anxiety, and the importance of meditation and self-reflection. She also shares her personal journey from interior design to clinical psychology.
SKY NEWS ARABIA - AL SABAH
Why Do Some People Overshare? The Psychology Behind Revealing Personal Details- September 3, 2024
Ms. El Nabulsi explores the psychological drivers behind oversharing — why some people feel compelled to reveal intimate details of their lives publicly. She examines the role of attachment style, need for validation, and the impact of social media in normalising personal disclosure.
MBC — SABAH IL KHEIR YA ARAB
Smartphones, Anxiety, and the Brain: How to Protect Your Mental Health in the Digital Age- July 18, 2024
Excessive smartphone use triggers measurable changes in the brain — particularly in concentration and attention. Ms. El Nabulsi discusses how to recognise the signs of problematic phone use, its links to anxiety and stress, and practical strategies to set boundaries with your devices. She also highlights the risk for children, where prolonged close-up screen exposure is contributing to rising rates of myopia in younger generations.
MBC — KALAM NAWA'EM
Setting Boundaries: The Importance of Saying No-
May 20 2024
Ms. El Nabulsi joins the ladies of Kalam Nawa3em to discuss one of the most powerful tools in psychological wellbeing — the ability to set boundaries and say no. She explores how culture effects agreeableness and why so many people in the Arab world struggle to decline requests, the emotional cost of chronic people-pleasing, and practical strategies for asserting limits in personal and professional relationships without guilt.
MBC — KALAM NAWA'EM
Self-Blame, Cultural Identity, and the Art of Staying Anchored in a Globalised World- Feb- 2024
Ms. El Nabulsi cautions against applying imported Western frameworks to the Arab experience of self-blame — noting that a degree of restraint and accountability is deeply functional within Arabic culture, and that the "just be happy" belief system does not translate cleanly across cultural contexts. She argues that in an era of globalisation, the most critical skill is not adopting new value systems wholesale, but developing the self-awareness to discern what fits. She introduces self-referral through meditation as the anchor that allows individuals to remain rooted in their authentic self while navigating a rapidly changing world.
MBC — SABAH IL KHEIR YA ARAB
Anger, Burnout, and the Neuroscience of Emotional Habits: How to Stop Anger Before It Starts- Sept 5 2023
Among the most commonly reported emotional experiences are anger, frustration, and anxiety. Ms. El Nabulsi explains that when these emotions are felt constantly and frequently, they take an immediate toll on mental health — and over time, become a direct pathway to burnout. Drawing on neuroscience, she highlights a counterintuitive truth: the more we express anger, the stronger it becomes. Each expression reinforces the neural pathways associated with that emotion, turning it into an increasingly powerful habit. The solution, she argues, is not venting but prevention — through ongoing self-awareness work that allows us to understand our own patterns and respond to circumstances assertively before anger has the chance to arise.
MBC — KALAM NAWAE'M
Is Revenge After Marital Infidelity Healthy? Understanding Betrayal and Emotional Healing- March 13 2023
Ms. El Nabulsi joins the ladies of Kalam Nawa3em to address one of the most emotionally charged questions in relationship psychology — whether revenge is a healthy response to marital infidelity. She challenges the widespread misconception that men cheat for younger or more beautiful women, arguing that infidelity is more often rooted in a relational dynamic: men's innate need for leadership and the challenge of maintaining complementarity in marriage. She draws on the "80/20 theory" and offers a practical reframe — that sustainable marriages are built on polarity, not competition, and that ambition and femininity are not opposites. Her core message: asserting your rights after betrayal is healthy. Seeking revenge is not — it harms the betrayed more than the betrayer.
MBC — KALAM NAWAE'M ) Jan 1 2023
Suicide and Suicide Prevention: What the Signs Are and Why People Hide Their Pain
Ms. El Nabulsi joins the ladies of Kalam Nawa3em after a celebrity death shocks the public — a person who seemed perfectly happy, giving no visible signs of struggle. She explains that suicidal ideation never happens suddenly; it builds gradually over time, but people learn to hide it. She connects this directly to Arab cultural norms: social behaviour rules in Arab societies function almost like religious law, and these expectations can suppress individuality, keep conversations surface-level, and discourage people from being transparent about their pain — allowing suffering to escalate silently. She outlines the key warning signs to watch for, and addresses a widely misunderstood statistic: suicide attempts are higher in women, but completed suicides are higher in men.
MBC — KALAM NAWAE'M ) October 30, 2022
Why Do Arabs Repress Emotions? The Psychology of Cultural Emotional Suppression
Ms. El Nabulsi explores why emotional repression is so deeply embedded in Arab culture — rooted in upbringing, family values that equate emotions with weakness, and generations of coping through conflict. She draws a striking contrast with the West, where emotional expression is modelled everywhere in media and film. She then offers a neurological explanation: repressing emotions literally reduces right-brain activity — the hemisphere responsible for emotional intelligence, body awareness, and relationships — while the left brain becomes dominant. Like an unused muscle, the right brain weakens over time. She urges Arabs to normalise therapy ("you should have started last year"). On men who repress: she takes a deliberate stance — let him. Men should process emotions with other men, not at home, where their role as provider and anchor must stay intact.
MBC — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB ) August 4, 2022
Transcending Trauma: How to Overcome Major Loss and Help Your Children Heal
Recorded on the second anniversary of the Beirut port explosion, Ms. El Nabulsi opens by acknowledging what the mind struggles to do in the face of catastrophic loss — find an explanation or justification. She makes a key distinction: transcending trauma does not mean forgetting. It means accepting what happened and choosing not to let it hold you back. She introduces Transcendental Meditation as a clinical tool for this process, explaining how twice-daily practice trains the brain to move from surface-level thinking — the rational, logical mind — through deeper layers of intuition and emotion, down to self-referral consciousness: a state of awareness that frees the mind from needing to resolve what cannot be resolved. On supporting others: she advises against avoiding the topic — repression prevents processing. On anger: she validates it fully while urging that a sense of security, not the wave of public outrage, is the greatest healing factor. On faith: she frames acceptance through an Islamic lens — that we operate with limited human scope and our task is to remain grounded in that faith while doing our best with what is in front of us. On children: she outlines the PTSD symptoms parents need to watch for — hyperarousal, worst-case-scenario thinking, negative worldview, and nightmares — and advises consulting a psychologist if these symptoms persist beyond a couple of months.
MBC — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB ) July 4, 2022,
Violence Against Women: The Psychology of Control, Trauma Bonding, and How to Break Free
Ms. El Nabulsi opens by challenging the cultural framing of domestic violence as "family conflict gone out of control" — arguing instead that it is fundamentally about a desire for total control. Abusers, she explains, do not perceive their partners as separate individuals; they see them as extensions of themselves, as something they own. She broadens the definition of violence beyond the physical to include verbal, psychological, emotional, sexual, reproductive, and financial abuse — all of which cause comparable harm. She describes the psychological impact on the woman receiving this abuse: a constant state of inner panic, a hypervigilant nervous system that cannot shut down or recuperate, leading over time to health issues, exhaustion, and — most significantly — a gradual loss of her sense of self, reality, and worth. She names this the primary mechanism that keeps women trapped: they do not stay by choice, they stay because they have lost themselves. She introduces the clinical concept of trauma bonding, which creates an attachment to the abuser stronger than to any other person in the woman's life. On how to respond: she distinguishes between life-threatening physical abuse — where she is unequivocal that the woman must leave immediately — and non-life-threatening situations, where building financial independence quietly and incrementally is the first step toward reclaiming agency. She addresses the impact on children: boys who witness this abuse are twice as likely to be violent themselves as adults; girls who grow up in these homes are more prone to risky behaviours, eating disorders, and addiction. Her closing message: the most important thing any society can do is raise its sensitivity to all forms of abuse, stop looking away, stop justifying it, and stop blaming victims.
MBC1 — FI OSBOU3A (في أسبوع MBC ) Dec 18, 2021
Why Do Women Cut or Shave Their Hair After Psychological Trauma?
The episode opens with the host noting that singer Sherine cut her hair after her divorce — a pattern also seen with Salah and Britney Spears following their own separations — and asks whether there's a real link between women cutting their hair and traumatic events. Ms. El Nabulsi confirms there is a well-established connection: engaging in self-care activities like changing one's hairstyle raises oxytocin, which helps regulate cortisol and reduce stress. In Arab culture specifically, she explains, a woman's long hair has traditionally been considered her "crown" — tied to the idealized dream of romance and a stable family home — so cutting it after a setback can become a subconscious way of processing that the dream has been disrupted. She notes the behavior isn't always trauma-driven — many women simply enjoy changing their look — and that the same oxytocin mechanism applies to men, whose hormones shift toward bonding and caregiving (with reduced testosterone) during major family transitions like a partner's pregnancy. She also distinguishes healthy attention-seeking from the pathological need for external validation seen in conditions like Borderline Personality Disorder.
BBC NEWS ARABIC — NUQTAT HEWAR ( نقطة حوار) | Dec 3, 2021
How Social Media's Dopamine Loops Affect the Teenage Brain — and How Parents Can Help Without Alienating Their Teenagers
On BBC News Arabic's Nuqtat Hewar, Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, joins host Yasmine Abu Khadra to explain why the teenage brain is uniquely vulnerable to the dopamine-driven feedback loops of social media — a vulnerability rooted in the prefrontal cortex, which continues developing into a person's mid-twenties and governs impulse control, consequential thinking, and self-awareness. She addresses why parental attempts to limit a teenager's social media use often backfire when delivered through criticism or name-calling rather than a focus on specific behaviors, and outlines how exposure to influential but ethically questionable online personalities can shape a teenager's sense of what's worth pursuing in life. Her guidance for parents: stay closely engaged with your teenager's world while maintaining clear authority as a parent — a balance that builds the stability and security known to help protect against anxiety.
MBC1 — FI OSBOU3A ( في أسبوع MBC | Oct 16, 2021
What Is Mental Health, Really? A Psychologist on Why Arab Families Wait Too Long to Seek Help
On MBC1's Fi Osbou3a, Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, defines mental health as a spectrum — from consistent fulfillment and goal achievement on one end, to significant emotional struggle on the other — and explains why Arabic-speaking clients so often wait years before seeking help, arriving in her practice only once symptoms are deeply entrenched and far harder to treat. She addresses why depression and anxiety left untreated during the teenage years can alter brain development and distort self-image for life, and outlines what protects mental health day to day: recognizing the symptoms of common personality and mood disorders early, cultivating genuine, undistracted connection with others, and building a regular practice of stillness and self-referral — she teaches Transcendental Meditation for this purpose. She also discusses the delicate process of updating rigid belief systems without destabilizing a person's sense of identity, and makes the case that authentic confidence comes from real achievement, not praise.
MBC1 — FI OSBOU3A (في أسبوع MBC | Aug 21, 2021
How to Recognize a Psychopathic Personality — and Why You Should Walk Away, Not Try to Win Them Over
On BBC News Arabic's Nuqtat Hewar, Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, On MBC1's Fi Osbou3a, Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, explains how to recognize psychopathic personality traits early — and why trying to win over or earn the loyalty of someone with this profile is, clinically, a waste of a lifetime's effort. She outlines the childhood warning signs that distinguish this personality disorder from ordinary difficult behavior, why its defining feature — a lack of empathy — makes it one of the most treatment-resistant conditions in psychology, and how psychopathic traits differ from narcissism. She also addresses why charm and social dominance make these individuals easy to mistake for strong leadership early on, and what actually protects the people around them: building genuine self-worth, recognizing how childhood abuse can dull an adult's ability to read red flags, and practicing the kind of present-moment self-awareness that makes manipulation harder to miss.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB | May 30, 2021
How to Build Real Self-Confidence & What to Do When Others Comment on Your Appearance
On MBC1's Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab, DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi reframes a common but painful experience — unsolicited comments on how we look — as an opportunity to build real self-confidence, not just cope with criticism. She explains why these comments cut deepest when self-worth is already fragile, how parents can raise children who don't tie their value to appearance, and the mental skill she teaches clients directly: negotiating with your own thoughts to separate someone's opinion from fact. The conversation closes on assertiveness — not silence, and not aggression, but the confident middle ground that lets a person hold their sense of self steady no matter what's said about them.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB- | Feb 2021
The Psychology of Re-Watching: Why We Return to the Same Series and Films
Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, M.Sc., M.A., M.A., DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, joined the hosts of Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab to explain the psychological mechanisms behind one of television's most relatable habits — why so many of us return, again and again, to the same series and films we have already seen. The answer lies in nervous system fatigue, the cortisol science of predictability, and what re-watching familiar content reveals about our anxiety levels.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB | January 6, 2021
When Holding On Becomes Pathological — and Why I'm Seeing the Opposite Problem in My Clinic
Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, M.Sc., M.A., M.A., DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, joined the hosts of Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab to explain pathological attachment to people, routines, and objects — and to share a counterintuitive clinical observation: what she is increasingly seeing is not excessive attachment, but its opposite. A generation exiting relationships the moment they require effort, in a cultural shift away from the deep, lifelong bonds that have always defined Arab identity. She explains attachment patterns, the disorganized attachment dynamic that draws people into unhealthy pursuit, and how Transcendental Meditation builds the self-referral foundation that makes healthy independence possible.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB- Dec 13, 2020
Factitious Disorder: When Someone Fakes a Serious Illness — and Why
Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, M.Sc., M.A., M.A., DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, joined the hosts of Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab to explain one of the most misunderstood conditions in clinical psychology — Factitious Disorder, formerly known as Munchausen syndrome — following the case of a woman who falsely claimed to have brain cancer and shaved her head to support the deception. Ms. El Nabulsi explains the psychological drivers behind fabricating illness, how to recognise it, and how it is treated.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB- Nov 9, 2020
JOMO Is Not the Solution to FOMO — A Psychologist on Why Both Are Forms of Anxiety
Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, M.Sc., M.A., M.A., DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, joined the hosts of Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab to offer a counterintuitive clinical take on two of the pandemic's defining psychological trends: FOMO and JOMO. While JOMO was widely celebrated as the healthy alternative to anxious social participation, Ms. El Nabulsi explains why it is not — both are anxiety responses in opposite directions, and what we actually need is the capacity for genuine presence.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB ( October 1, 2020
Why Children Bully — and Who Is Really Responsible: A Psychologist's Perspective
Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, M.Sc., M.A., M.A., DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, joined MBC1's Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab following the death of a child in Egypt at the hands of other children. She explains why the child's underdeveloped prefrontal cortex cannot bear full responsibility, why the parental and community environment is the primary driver of youth aggression, how peer pressure dynamics enable group bullying, and why even genetically predisposed children have far better outcomes when raised well.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB ( August 11, 2020
When Your Child Won't Let You Go: Understanding Excessive Attachment and the Science of Secure Bonding
Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, M.Sc., M.A., M.A., DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, explains the signs of excessive attachment in children, the neurological basis of secure versus insecure attachment styles, and explains how a parent's can support their child's development of healthy attachment. Her core message: presence — genuine, full, undistracted connection — is the single most powerful thing a parent can give.
Watch on Clip Instagram
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB | July 19, 2020
Children's Mental Health, Secure Attachment, and Parenting in the Arab World
Ms. El Nabulsi challenges the widespread belief that children are too young to have real emotions, explaining how secure attachment forms in the first five years and shapes mental health for life. She addresses the fear-based authority system embedded in Arab parenting culture and offers a clinically grounded alternative — building internal judgement through consistency, love, and recognition of the child as an individual.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB ( Jun 15, 2020
Arab Parents and Teenagers: Living on Different Planets
Ms. El Nabulsi opens with a striking observation: parents in the Arab world are operating on a fundamentally different belief system from the reality their teenagers are actually living — and that gap, left unbridged, forces teenagers to face modern challenges entirely alone. She argues that parents remain the most powerful influence in their teenager's life, but only if that bridge is built.
Ms. El Nabulsi explains why the boundaries a teenager experiences at home become their internal standard for every relationship that follows — including how they respond to toxic people later in life. She also addresses social media oversight and why parents need to guide rather than control, given that the adolescent prefrontal cortex is still developing.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB ( April 08, 2020
When Crisis Becomes a Catalyst: Post-Traumatic Growth, Resilience, and the Tend-and-Befriend Response
Sarah discusses how major disruptions — from pandemics to personal upheaval — temporarily suspend our foundational beliefs and open a window for genuine growth. She covers the three stress response patterns (fight, flight, tend-and-befriend), the science of post-traumatic growth, why prosocial behaviour heals the nervous system, and how each of us is a constant transmitter of either hope or fear to those around us.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB ( April 15, 2020
Working From Home Without Losing Your Mind
Sarah explains why working from home during COVID is biologically harder than it looks — covering the cortisol-focus link, how to rebuild routine and stability, the importance of intentional social connection, aligning your schedule with your circadian rhythm, setting firm work-hour boundaries, and how your stress levels directly regulate your children's nervous systems.
Al Hadath الحدث | April 8, 2020
Why People Panic Buy: The Psychology of Crisis Behavior
Sarah explains the neuroscience of panic buying as a stress response, why government reassurances fail to reach people in acute fear, who is most vulnerable and why — including the Arab world's history of collective trauma and mental health stigma — and what each person can do to remain a grounding presence during collective upheaval.
MBC1 — SABAH AL KHAIR YA ARAB | March 25, 2020
Why Wealth Doesn't Buy Happiness — Technologies of Consciousness and the Neuroscience of Lasting Wellbeing
Sarah explains why positive thinking is a surface-level intervention, introduces the three scientifically distinct categories of meditation (Open Monitoring, Focused Attention, and Automatic Self-Transcending), and describes how Transcendental Meditation produces restful alertness — a fourth state of consciousness with a metabolic drop twice as deep as sleep — and why this, not mood management, is the foundation of lasting happiness.
MBC1 Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab | February 26, 2020
Workaholism vs Ambition: The Psychology of Work Addiction in Arab Culture
Sarah joins two self-described workaholics to explore how Arab culture rewards and conceals work addiction, the psychology of compulsive overworking, and why the most successful people in the world — including Ray Dalio — use Transcendental Meditation not as a wellness practice but as a professional performance strategy: 20 minutes twice a day to access a neurological state twice as restful as deep sleep.
MBC1 Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab | February 19, 2020
The Ayurvedic Clock: How Ancient Wisdom Shapes Your Sleep and Mood
Ms. El Nabulsi explains why sleep deprivation cannot be recovered in a single night, how chronic poor sleep impairs neurogenesis and cognitive development in students, and why it affects weight, productivity, and relationship conflict. She introduces the Ayurvedic clock as a practical framework for aligning daily rhythms with the body's natural cycles — from optimal exercise and work windows, to sleeping before 10 PM for deep, uninterrupted rest.
MBC1 — FI OSBOU3A ( في أسبوع MBC)
-Dec 18, 2021
World Mental Health Day: Why the Middle East Has Some of the World's Highest Anxiety and Depression Rates – Oct 11, 2019
On World Mental Health Day, Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist, joins MBC1's Fi Osbou3a to explain the WHO's definition of mental health — not necessarily the absence of distress, but the ability to cope with daily challenges and function toward one's goals. She discusses why the Middle East and North Africa carry a disproportionately high burden of anxiety and depression compared to the rest of the world, and connects this directly to productivity: sustained stress shuts down activity in the prefrontal cortex, impairing the clear thinking this region's achievement-driven culture depends on. She also addresses the cultural taboo around seeking mental health support — rooted in a fear that personal struggles reflect on an entire family's reputation — and makes the case for seeking help at the first signs of distress, rather than waiting until a crisis point.
