“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.” – Benjamin Disraeli
http://vimeo.com/44948602Dr. Deborah Khoshaba has emerged as one of the leading psychologists in her area of work. Her groundbreaking research on coping and resilience strategies as part of The Hardiness Institute initiative has earned her tremendous accolades within the academic community, and her books published on the subject continue to enjoy wide critical acclaim. Over the course of her clinical career, she has treated 1000+ patients suffering from conditions that range from eating disorders to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at the military level. As impressive as Dr. Khoshaba’s CV is, it is not nearly as compelling as the story of who she is:
Deborah Khoshaba grew up in Chicago, Illinois, born into a family of six children, of two working, immigrant parents. Early in life, she found herself drawn to music and followed that passion into her first career as a professional opera singer. It was through the experience of performing live before an audience at the Chicago Lyric Opera that Deborah discovered the enormous communicative power of music; its ability to uplift and transform, offering thousands of listeners a brief moment of respite from the varied complexities or irrevocable sorrows of their everyday lives.
Relief and comfort, Deborah decided, are the greatest gifts that can be given or received.
It was this perspective on the world, developed through a cultural lens, that later shaped Dr. Deborah’s philosophy as a psychologist. The breadth of her emotional range developed through the arts, coupled with an ability to recognize parallels and relatable themes in seemingly disparate contexts, has served to greatly magnify Dr. Deborah’s value throughout her career and has led to numerous successes, academic and commercial. Her work continues to appeal equally to the specialized academic community, and to the greater mainstream public.
Through the use of film therapy, music and literary analysis (as well as other creative metaphors and allegories), Dr. Deborah has brought intuitive depth and dimension to her work as a therapist that continues to resonate profoundly with her patients, students and readers. Over the course of her 25-year career, Dr. Deborah has treated over a thousand patients with conditions ranging from marital problems to emergencies at the public service level. Many have returned to work with her at multiple points in their lives. In 2008, while a professor at the University of
California Irvine, she was voted Teacher of the Year by over 300 students. An accomplished author, she has penned two books and countless articles for esteemed academic publications. Her blog on Psychology Today continues to gain popularity, while Dr. Deborah’s empathetic voice already reaches over 30,000 dedicated readers who visit her personal blog publication monthly, Psychology in Everyday Life, in search of compassion and advice.
A strong and engaging performer noted for her natural warmth, Dr. Deborah has been a series regular on various radio and educational television programs. In 2009, she was selected as the host of Journey on VoiceAmerica, a live call-in show where she offered on-the-air clinical advice. Most recently, in 2012, Dr. Deborah was chosen as one of the lead psychologist as part of the core cast for Shrink Rap, a new reality television pilot by On Purpose Productions.
