Staff Profiles: Antoine Khabbaz

Dr. Antoine Khabbaz

Students who have been up the stairs to West Hall's second floor and into the counseling center are very familiar with the comforting nature of Antoine Khabbaz, AUB's clinical psychologist since 2001. As the director of the counseling center, Khabbaz implements an "open door" policy and guarantees total confidentiality to all the students who regularly seek and greatly benefit from his services.

Although his work in treating psychological problems, like depression, sexual abuse, or eating disorders, requires an eight-to-five presence, Khabbaz gets to his office twenty minutes before eight and does not leave before seven in the evening. He never hesitates to go the extra mile in providing help, not only to students who desperately need it but also those who simply want to go on an "adventurous journey of self-discovery."

Khabbaz says that Russian literature was responsible for his decision to study psychology. "No one has analyzed the intricacies of the human psyche like Dostoevsky in his novels, so hair-splitting and exhaustive they were, "said Khabbaz, who was educated in the French system. He received a BA and an MA in psychology from France, holds two diplomas in practical psychology and higher studies in ethnology and prehistory (Lyon University 1978), earned his PhD in anthropology (Lyon University 1994), and commends the contributions of insightful French writers on his work as a psychologist. His leisure activities include reading, writing, and listening to classical music.

Khabbaz enjoys dealing with AUB students and says they are "Pleasant, polite, tolerant, and enthusiastic about self-knowledge." His professional experience included clinical psychology work in France, a private practice in Beirut, and a consultancy in Australia.

Khabbaz encourages the students to get totally comfortable and feel free to say anything; he advocates the notion of "no limits except harming oneself or others." His proclivity "never to judge, to completely empathize, and to listen well, up until the end" supports his driving motto of " the best way to do is to be."