cost of GCC healthcare
GCC healthcare sector urged to unlock $2.5bn by investing in staff wellbeing
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GCC healthcare professionals face burnout worries unless industry heads invest in staff wellbeing
Latest in cost of GCC healthcare
In pictures: WHO logistics hub in Dubai carried 7.5 tonnes of medical supplies to Iran
by ITP Tue 3 Mar 2020
Dubai's International Humanitarian City facilitated the shipment containing medical supplies that could assist some 15,000 healthcare workers taking care of coronavirus patients in Iran
In pictures: Sheikh Mohammed visits Arab Health Exhibition 2020
by ITP Tue 28 Jan 2020
Arab Health 2020 is taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre and Conrad Dubai Hotel from 27 – 30 January 2020
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Khaleej Times
2 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
From PCOS to chronic pain, can emotional healing transform women's health?
The womb, in ancient cultures has been revered as a sacred centre of creation. It is in a mother's womb that the seeds of entire humanity are first planted. But for the woman herself, the womb is more than a reproductive organ, it is also her emotional centre, balancing her hormones, nurturing her identity and fuelling her power. So, listen to the messages of your womb, says Sarmistha Mitra, Dubai-based psychologist and wellness expert. Womb healing, she reveals, can have a deep transformative effect on a woman's health. In her recently released book Whispers of the Womb, she offers a holistic approach to address the mind-body connection behind gynaecological conditions such as PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, menstrual pain and infertility. The book was born out of her lived-in experience as a woman and a therapist. For years Mitra had watched her aunt live through the silent pain of infertility and her cousin endure years of exhausting IVF cycles, leaving her body emotionally and physically depleted. 'Even the first client who walked through my door was a woman navigating the emotional roller coaster of IVF. During the therapy sessions, we began uncovering her deeply buried beliefs, her feelings of not being enough, generational shame, ancestral grief that even she was unaware of holding on to for years,' says Mitra, who is also the founder of The Wellbeing Sanctuary, Dubai, a holistic health centre. As the client healed, something incredible happened — she conceived naturally soon after. 'That moment stirred something in me. I realised our wombs are not just physical organs, they are emotional archives. The womb is where life begins and also where unhealed pain hides. It carries the emotional residue of generations, stories we have inherited, shame we have absorbed and parts of ourselves we have forgotten,' she adds. Womb healing, is a process of reclaiming this sacred space from pain, trauma and suppression. Combining years of research based on personal and professional experience, Mitra chose to write, Whispers of the Womb, to explore the sacred feminine, ancestral healing and subconscious reprogramming to help women reclaim their feminine power. Through her writing she urges women to embrace their inner wisdom, sensuality and creativity to restore their physical and mental wellbeing through acceptance and practical everyday healing rituals. Generational trauma, a lesser explored factor, is an integral part of Mitra's book. She writes that just as physical traits are passed down from one generation to the other so are emotional experiences and societal conditioning. 'Ancestral trauma especially around gender roles, sexuality and oppression are inherited not just through stories but also through biology. Science calls it epigenetics. Our grandmother's grief, our mother's shame, their unspoken sacrifices live in our bodies, especially in our wombs,' points out Mitra. Through her work as a psychologist she has encountered a rising number of women struggling with womb-related disorders including fibroids, PCOS, endometriosis and early menopause. The more she listened to their stories, the more she realised that they were not just medical conditions but messages. 'I asked myself 'what if that what we are so desperate to fix, is actually trying to protect us.' That idea blew my mind and I began to see that these disorders were not random. The body, in its wisdom, was shielding us from perceived threats encoded over generations through angst, suppression and disconnection from our true nature. Imbalance, pain and disorders, are not flaws, they are reminders and signals.' The modern woman is often suppressing her feminine energy. While navigating her way through a highly competitive world, she often overcompensates by taking on masculine traits. Mitra calls it the masculine overdrive. She describes how many women are constantly pushing, proving, achieving and performing. 'The truth is that women today are exhausted because they are stuck in a constant tug of war between who they were programmed to be and who the world expects them to become. They were told to be caregivers, be selfless, quiet, accommodating, but today they are also called to be leaders, decision makers, breadwinners while still being expected to maintain emotional grace, beauty and balance.' The internal conflict between their outdated subconscious roles and the modern external demands, is not just stressful but it also dysregulates the nervous system showing up as anxiety, hormonal imbalance, burnout, thyroid issues, fertility struggles and emotional fatigue. 'A woman does not need to choose between her ambition and softness. She just needs to feel safe enough to be who she is.' Turning inwards through stillness and reflection, feeling instead of clamping down on emotions, and beginning a conscious dialogue with the womb are some of the ways, the author suggests that women can heal themselves. She retells the instance of one of her clients who was diagnosed with PCOS and was struggling with irregular menstrual cycles. During the counselling sessions, Mitra was able to help her client unburden her beliefs around self-worth and release her suppressed emotions. 'Over time her menstrual cycle was naturally regulated and her hormone levels became balanced,' shares Mitra. 'What changed was not her body but her relationship with herself.' Readers will discover several daily rituals in the book that can be practised including womb breathing, pelvic bowl journaling, warm castor oil compress, dancing or hip circles and mirror work. The author's own journey of healing and transformation began over a decade ago. As a stay-at-home mum, Mitra's world collapsed when her only son went abroad for college education. Her empty nest triggered a deep emotional upheaval. Eventually, she healed her pain by training to be a wellness practitioner, learning transpersonal psychology, clinical hypnotherapy and several other therapeutic modalities. A firm advocate of building one's mental muscles, she has designed the DecodeYou therapy, a KHDA accredited course, to help people recalibrate their subconscious mind. 'As a stay-at-home-mum, I was outwardly fulfilled but inwardly unravelled,' she adds. 'My healing was not just about learning psychology, it was about rewiring the nervous system. In doing so I was able to become the woman, my younger self needed. The woman who finally birthed the truth and now teaches others to do the same because when we heal our womb physically, emotionally and spiritually it not just bears life, it also gives your life back to you.'
Khaleej Times
2 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
UAE: Why body image dissatisfaction peaks during summer
For the past two years, Sarah*, a 39-year-old executive assistant at a professional service firm, has been actively unlearning the harsh body image standards she once accepted. 'I grew up at the peak of thin culture in the 90s and 00s in the US,' she said. 'So there's not a fad diet I haven't tried to lose weight.' But as she got older, when after her extreme dieting patterns and preoccupation with her body led her to seek professional help, she came to realise there was nothing wrong with her body at all. She'd simply been chasing beauty trends. 'First thin was in, then a more curvy shape became popular, and now it's all about being fit and lean. I got sick of trying to force my body to meet impossible standards. So I went to therapy where I was diagnosed with body dysmorphia and I'm learning how to manage my body image dissatisfaction,' she added. By her account, Sarah was making real progress. But every summer, like clockwork, when her Instagram feed floods with influencers pushing 'summer body' makeovers, she feels herself slipping back into old habits; comparing, criticising, and questioning how far she's really come. 'It's not just on social media, and it's not just me,' explained the Dubai-resident. 'It's all my friends can talk about too. If they could just lose five kilos, they say, they'd finally feel good in their skin.' 'It's really hard not to internalise that. I know better, but being constantly bombarded with messages saying you have to look a certain way, it's hard not to feel like your worth still depends on being smaller, fitter, more toned.' Sarah's experience isn't unique. In fact, it echoes a broader pattern — one that researchers say intensifies with the seasons. A recent study by the Global Digital Wellbeing Program (Sync), part of the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture in Saudi Arabia, analysed over 12 million Twitter/X posts and identified clear seasonal patterns in body image dissatisfaction. Drawing on data from 1,534 users in the UK, USA, Australia, and New Zealand between 2020 and 2023, the study found that dissatisfaction consistently peaked during the summer months in both hemispheres. 'This work points to a predictable recurring seasonal rhythm in how people feel about their bodies, in a large part amplified by social media platforms,' said lead author Dr Justin Thomas. 'These findings might apply to the Gulf if we consider that for some residents, summer also equals vacation time. It might even be that for some Gulf residents, there is also a winter spike during the months of October-February, in that this is the beach season here as the temperature is more tolerable.' The study has been peer-reviewed and will be presented at this year's British Psychological Society annual conference (Cyber Psychology section). It was led by Dr Justin Thomas and co-authored by Alex Wells, Rana Samad, and Yasmin Al Jedawi, researchers at The Digital Wellbeing Program (Sync) at the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture (Ithra); and Dr Dahlia Al Juboori (Johns Hopkins University), and Timothy Regan (Uniformed Services University). It represents one of the most comprehensive investigations into seasonal body image dissatisfaction to date. On how this type of research appies to the Gulf, Dr Thomas said: 'Further research is required to explore how seasonality might impact body image in climates like the UAE and in places where modesty in dress remains a well-respected social norm.' To that point, Sarah, a practising Muslim who wears the hijab, argued that no woman is immune to the pressure. Beauty ideals, she says, find other ways to reach you. 'Just because I [dress modestly] doesn't mean I'm not affected,' said Sarah. 'The pressure just shifts. It's less about showing skin and more about having the 'right' body underneath. You still feel like you're being measured against a standard, even if no one sees it.' 'There are other times of the year — like Eid or before the wedding season — that the algorithm pushes unhelpful weight loss content and it really affects me negatively.' According to Dr Al Juboori, senior research assistant at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of the study, Sarah's experience further contextualises the study's findings. Holidays that revolve around food or appearance-focused traditions are peak periods for heightened body image concerns. 'We observe a 'perfect storm' where seasonal shifts intensify exposure to idealised body images through media and peer interactions,' she explains. Because body image dissatisfaction is a known risk factor for eating disorders — the mental health condition with the highest mortality rate — it's crucial for clinicians to recognise these patterns and adjust their interventions accordingly. 'Clinicians in multicultural regions like the Gulf should consider the local cultural calendar and climate when designing interventions that are both emotionally resonant and contextually relevant,' she continued. 'Approaches such as media literacy training, cognitive restructuring, and guided discussions around upward social comparisons can help individuals build resilience against these pressures.' 'Social media literacy is especially crucial, as passive consumption of appearance-focused content has been shown to increase BID (body image disorder) via indirect comparison mechanisms.' The study concludes that public health campaigns targeting body image and eating disorders might be most effective if timed to mitigate these high-risk periods. 'Therapy helped me a lot,' Sarah said. 'It taught me to understand that healing isn't a straight line. I can work through the root of my body image issues and feel OK, but that doesn't mean I won't get triggered again — by ads, by the noise around how women 'should' look, especially at certain times of the year. At those times, I practise being more mindful and more critical of the content I consume. And I've learned some helpful tools to maintain resilience.' It's a work in progress, she admits, but one that's rooted in self-compassion, not perfection. 'I just want women, and men, to know there's no one 'right' way to look. I'm still learning that, even if I slip back into old patterns sometimes.'
Khaleej Times
3 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Virtual companions, chatbot-therapists: Is AI replacing human connections?
I was listening to the radio on my way to work when a well-known RJ on one of the channels here in the UAE mentioned how she couldn't sleep the previous night, so she chatted with ChatGPT until she finally drifted off. The point of mentioning this isn't to debate insomnia remedies (as the show did), but to highlight something deeper — our growing emotional and cognitive reliance on digital solutions. While social media platforms offer 'free' services quietly shaping our behaviours, the market constantly convinces us we need the latest smartphone, algorithms trap us in filter bubbles, feeding us only what aligns with our existing views. And now, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and virtual companions are being designed to fulfill human desires, companionship, validation, and even therapy. Yet as a society, we are experiencing a disconnect like never before. The question is no longer just whether technology is replacing human connection, but how much of our emotional lives we are willing to outsource. As loneliness surges, so do our efforts to fight it. It's instinct. With digital platforms around us so much of the time, we naturally turn to it. A 46-year-old woman living in a family-friendly neighbourhood shared her struggle with loneliness on social media. People had plenty of solutions, including making an AI friend. A growing number of AI-powered virtual companions are now available online, offering round-the-clock support without fear of judgment. These digital assistants have become a valuable resource for individuals hesitant to share their emotions and concerns with others due to social anxiety or fear of criticism. These services aren't just for early adopters anymore, they are going mainstream fast. Among them, Replika has gained significant attention and popularity. Marketed as 'the AI Companion who cares, always here to listen and talk, always on your side', the app's reassuring message has resonated with users. Several reputable news outlets have featured the program as well. Social media apps promote connectivity, but studies show that regular users frequently experience loneliness, indicating that the sense of connection may be superficial. The benefits of AI characters come with significant risks, particularly for adolescents. Emotional dependency on AI can erode real-world social interactions and coping skills, potentially isolating users from familial and communal networks. AI remembers every detail of the conversation and gives the illusion of being a sincere friend, says Dr Jihene Mrabet, a psychologist with academic expertise in AI. She elaborates that these mental health applications are capable of diagnosing psychological issues and even providing coaching advice. 'However, the concern is always about to what extent one can rely on these chatbots, since we don't know who is behind the technology, what their understanding of human psychology is, or how confidentiality is maintained in such interactions. We do not even know if the designers have proper guardrails,' Dr Jihene explains. A Florida mother, Megan Garcia, is holding AI accountable for her 14-year-old son's death. In a lawsuit against the company, Garcia alleges deeply personal AI exchanges contributed to her son's suicide. She's demanding accountability to shield other families from similar devastation. As we increasingly turn to AI for companionship, we must ask: Are we creating a world where technology replaces human connection. And if so, at what cost? Developers, policymakers, and mental health experts must collaborate to enforce ethical safeguards, especially for vulnerable users.
