About

Rudy Abi-Habib

Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology

Dr. Rudy Abi-Habib is an assistant professor of clinical psychology in the Department of Social and Education Sciences at LAU.

Fascinated by clinical psychology in its research, teaching and clinical facets, Dr. Abi-Habib completed a double PhD program in 2009 in Paris, and a two-year postdoctoral program in 2012 in Leuven, Belgium. He is a clinical psychologist and a psychodynamic psychotherapist since 2006.

Coupled with his passion for psychology he is strongly attached to many hobbies, some are active and others, not so much, due to time restrictions. Among the ongoing ones photography, scuba diving, collecting stamps, hiking and reading are on the top of the list. The most precious time though is the one spent with the family.

Research Interests and Projects

His research interests are psychopathology, such as personality disorders, trauma, and psychosomatic disorders, health psychology, psychometrics, as well basic psychological constructs such as attachment, reflective functioning and mentalization. He is currently working on several research projects involving psychosomatic disorders, substance abuse, impulsivity as well as the validation of international assessment tools into Arabic.

Selected Publications

  1. Al-Habbal, K., Djoundourian, A., Nassar, E., Tayara, Z., Mercer, S.W., Abi-Habib, R., (2022). Reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure. Family Practice
  2. Tohme, P., Nassar, E., Badr, K., Grey, I., & Abi-Habib, R. (2022). Exploring attachment security in a sample of Lebanese adolescents: The validation of the Arabic IPPA-R. PLoS ONE.
  3. Tohme, P. & Abi-Habib, R. (2022). Correlates of work productivity and maternal competence after having a baby: The roles of mother-infant bonding and maternal subjective experiences. BMC Women’s Health.
  4. Tohme, P., Abi-Habib, R., Nassar, E., Hamed, N., Abou-Ghannam, G., & Chalouhi, G. (2022). The Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Pregnancy and Mother-Infant Prenatal Bonding. Maternal and Child Health Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-022-03464-9
  5. Abi-Habib, R., Chaaya, R., Yaktine, N., & Tohme, P.* (2022). Letter to Editor: Predictors of the Impostor Phenomenon. Asian Journal of Psychiatry. 75, 103208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2022.103208
  6. Tohme, P., Grey, I., El-Tawil M.T., & Abi-Habib, R. (2022). Prevalence and correlates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after the Beirut Port Explosion: The roles of mentalizing and resilience. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.
  7. Georges Rameh, Pia Tohme, Rudy Abi-Habib, Gihad E Chalouhi (2021): Letter to the Editor in response to ‘Parental attachment and depressive symptoms in pregnancies complicated by twin-twin transfusion syndrome: a cohort study, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-03688-7
  8. Pia Tohme, Nele AJ De Witte, Tom Van Daele, Rudy Abi-Habib (2021): Telepsychotherapy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experience of Lebanese Mental Health Professionals, Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-021-09503-w
  9. Nele AJ De Witte, Per Carlbring, Anne Etzelmueller, Tine Nordgreen, Maria Karekla, Lise Haddouk, Angélique Belmont, Svein Øverland, Rudy Abi-Habib, Sylvie Bernaerts, Agostino Brugnera, Angelo Compare, Aranzazu Duque, David Daniel Ebert, Jonas Eimontas, Angelos P Kassianos, João Salgado, Andreas Schwerdtfeger, Pia Tohme, Eva Van Assche, Tom Van Daele (2021): Online Consultations in Mental Healthcare During the Covid-19 Outbreak: An International Survey Study on Professionals’ Motivations and Perceived Barriers, Internet Interventions. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2021.100405
  10. Ian Grey, Teresa Arora, Justin Thomas, Ahmad Saneh, Pia Tohme, Rudy Abi-Habib (2020): The role of perceived social support on depression and sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic, Psychiatry Research. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113452
  11. Justin Thomas, Ian Grey, Rudy Abi-Habib, Pia Tohme (2020), Preferred therapist characteristics of Muslim College Women in The United Arab Emirates:  Implications for Psychotherapy. Mental Health, Religion & Culture.
  12. Pia Tohme, Ian Grey, Rudy Abi-Habib (2020): The Mental States Task (MST): Correlates and New Perspectives on Mentalizing in Lebanon, Journal of Personality Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2020.1769114
  13. Christina Shane-Simpson, Anna M. Schwartz, Rudy Abi-Habib, Pia Tohme, Rita Obeid (2020): I love my selfie! An investigation of overt and covert narcissism to understand selfie-posting behaviors within three geographic communities, Computers in Human Behavior, DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.106158.
  14. Rudy Abi-Habib, Nourhane Wehbe, Karim Badr & Pia Tohme (2020): Do Prisoners Mentalize Differently? Investigating Attachment and Reflective Functioning in a Sample of Incarcerated Lebanese Men, International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, DOI: 10.1080/14999013.2019.1684403.
  15. Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, Nidal Daou, Maria-Jose Sanchez-Ruiz, Steven K Kapp, Rita Obeid, Patricia J Brooks, Fumio Someki, Nava Silton, Rudy Abi-Habib (2019): Factors Underlying Cross-cultural Differences in Stigma Toward Autism Among College Students in Lebanon and the United States, Autism, DOI: 10.1177/13623611318823550.
  16. Abi-Habib R, Luyten P. The role of Dependency and Self-Criticism in the relationship between anger and depression. Personality and individual differences, Vil. 55(8) 921-925, 2013.
  17. Musallam KM, Khoury B, Abi-Habib R, Bazzi L, Al Ward Z, Succar J, Halawi R, Hankir A, Koussa S, Taher AT. Prevalence of depression and anxiety in adult patients with β-thalassemia major and intermedia. INT’L. J. PSYCHIATRY IN MEDICINE, Vol. 44(4) 291-303, 2012.
  18. Musallam KM, Khoury B, Abi-Habib R, Bazzi L, Succar J, Halawi R, Hankir A, Koussa S, Taher AT. Health-related quality of life in adults with transfusion-independent thalassemia intermedia compared to regularly-transfused thalassemia major: new insights. Eur J Haematol 87(1):73-79, 2011.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD in Clinical Psychology & Psychopathology – Denis Diderot University – Paris, France.
  • Masters in Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology - Saint Joseph University - Faculty of Human Sciences - Beirut, Lebanon.
  • Masters in Clinical Psychology – Lebanese University - Faculty of Human Sciences- Beirut, Lebanon.
  • Bachelor Psychology – Lebanese University - Faculty of Human Sciences - Beirut, Lebanon.