Farid (Fred) Elazar

Mr. Farid (Fred) Elazar is a Clinical Psychologist at ACPN – Dubai Officewho completed his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and his Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands in 2020. He completed his practicum training in Tilburg, the Netherlands in 2020 with his graduate thesis on ‘Islamic Modification of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Muslims with Depression’.

Mr. Elazar has four years of experience in clinical psychology in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and the Netherlands. He received his training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in the Netherlands, after which he started working as a psychologist in Dubai amidst the COVID19 pandemic. Since 2020, Mr. Elazar has catered to those with significant impact on mental health while also working with those having medium to long-term COVID19 effects.

Mr. Elazar is an active speaker leading webinars, seminars, and lectures on topics in psychology at high schools and universities across the GCC. Mr. Elazar also works, in parallel, in academia as Adjunct Instructor of Psychology at University of Balamand, Dubai and American University Dubai.

Mr. Elazar’s area of speciality isObsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He works with several types of OCD including contamination or cleanliness, obsessions related to checking and counting, scrupulosity or religiously-themed OCD, preoccupations with having an illness (formerly known as hypochondriasis) and all other unwanted intrusive thoughts that cause distress to the individual. He also works with individuals displaying body-focused repetitive behaviors such as trichotillomania (hair-pulling) and excoriation disorder (skin-picking). In addition, Mr. Elazar works with individuals withAnxiety, Panic or Depressive Disorders, and provides counselling an other matters including self-esteem, relationship management, anger treatment, and emotional regulation.

Mr. Elazar uses a combined approach including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and works with individuals aged 15 years and older. If the presenting complaints from the patient are related to OCD, Mr. Elazar can see individuals as young as 11 years’ old.