After the war in Afghanistan, I started seeing veterans in my NHS practice. They taught me how to deal with trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and I started the first trauma and veterans’ clinic in the East Anglia region at my NHS practice, which helped not only the veterans, but many of my other patients with PTSD and other diagnoses. I learned, from my veteran and non-veteran patients, to re-examine my psychiatric practice in investigating and treating, not merely symptoms of psychiatric disorders, but the causes of these disorders. Also, that psychological trauma does not only involve war trauma but includes events like childhood neglect and abuse in all of its forms, severe life events and unresolved grief and loss.

Dr Walid Abdul-Hamid
Dr Abdul-Hamid prides himself on utilising his extensive clinical experience and in-depth knowledge of the latest psychiatric research, to deliver high quality, evidence-based mental health care. He holds the following positions at Priory:
- Consultant psychiatrist and clinical director at Priory Wellbeing Centre Dubai
- Visiting consultant psychiatrist at Priory Hospital Chelmsford
Training
Following completion of a PhD in psychiatric epidemiology at the University of London, Dr Abdul-Hamid trained at the Maudsley Hospital Institute of Psychiatry in London, where he attained membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych). He became a consultant psychiatrist in 2000, and now leads a multidisciplinary team in treating a vast variety of psychiatric conditions.
Research interests
Dr Abdul-Hamid has a specialist research interest in trauma psychiatry and has a wealth of experience in using eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in the treatment of psychological trauma in both veteran and non-veteran patients. Dr Abdul-Hamid has had a long interest in cultural and ethnic psychiatry related issues, particularly, but not exclusively, in relation to Arab and Muslim cultural backgrounds. Dr Abdul-Hamid was also the advisor to the cultural consultation service at the Centre for Psychiatry, Bart’s and The London School of Medicine.
Clinical articles and research papers
Dr Abdul-Hamid has published around 50 scientific research articles in a number of prestigious medical and psychiatric journals. Some examples include:
Integration of religion and spirituality into trauma psychotherapy: an example of Sufism?, Abdul-Hamid, Walid Khalid, Hughes, Jamie Hacker, Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, Volume 9, Number 3, 2015, pp. 150-156(7)
Nothing new under the sun: post-traumatic stress disorders in the ancient world. Abdul-Hamid, Walid Khalid, Hughes, Jamie Hacker, Early Sci Med. 2014;19(6):549-57.
Languages
- English
- Arabic
Services Offered
Conditions Treated
- Addiction Treatment
- Adjustment Disorder
- Alcohol Rehabilitation
- Amphetamine Addiction
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Anxiety
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD and ADD
- Bereavement
- Binge Eating Disorder (BED)
- Bipolar Disorder
- Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Cannabis Addiction
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
- Cocaine Addiction
- Depression
- Drug Induced Psychosis
- Drug Rehabilitation
- Eating Disorders
- Exercise Addiction
- Food Addiction
- Gambling Addiction
- Gaming Addiction
- Gender Dysphoria
- Internet Addiction
- Legal High Addiction
- Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS)
- Mental Health Treatment
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders (OSFED)
- Personality Disorders
- Phobias
- Plastic Surgery Addiction
- Porn Addiction
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Schizophrenia
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Selective Mutism
- Self Harm
- Sex and Love Addiction
- Sexual Dysfunction
- Shopping Addiction
- Sleep Disorders (Insomnia)
- Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD)
- Stress
- Treatment Resistant Depression
- Work Addiction
- MRCPsych
- PhD