The Knowledge Hub acts as a clearing house for research in areas of concern, that will inform practice and program development.
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Initiate learnings form Indigenous Elders - adapting the model of restorative justice, healing circles in partnership with Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, Winnipeg
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To offer support services and therapeutic counselling to victims of hate-based violence, domestic and gendered violence, discrimination and racism.
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Enhance capacity building of Community Resiliency drawing from spiritual and cultural strengths.
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Train volunteers in Mental Health First Aid and grief support from across Canada.
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Develop peer support group
Knowledge Hub
WHAT IS MENTAL ILLNESS?
Mental illnesses are disorders of thought, emotions, and behavior. They may afflict people from all walks of life regardless of their gender, culture, religion, and economic status. There are many different types of mental disorders. Some of these are severe and others are not. Some are short-term and others are long-term. Some are easy to treat; Others take a long time to treat. They are generally treated with a combination of medications and different types of psychotherapies and counseling. Proper assessment and diagnosis are necessary for successful treatment.
WHAT IS NOT MENTAL ILLNESS?
The stress and emotional upset caused by the events of daily life, loss of belongings and loved ones, physical diseases, marital and family problems, and problems at the workplace are normal for all of us. These types of problems generally do not require treatment. If they become overwhelming, counseling may be sought to solve them. However, if they are allowed to go on for too long, they may develop into mental illnesses.
A few examples of mental disorders that people often suffer from:
Psychotic Disorders
These disorders are characterized by a loss of ability to distinguish what is real and what is not. People suffering from these disorders sometimes hear and see things that others cannot. Some become very suspicious and begin to believe that others are trying to harm them. Some are to assume other identities besides their own. Some believe that either God or the devil communicates with them. Some totally or occasionally withdraw into their own imaginary world and lose touch with the reality around them. Psychotic disorders are the most severe form of mental illness.
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Mood disorders
Mood disorders are characterized by severe depression or Elation (mania, euphoria), or a cycling between the two States. Unlike normal sadness, grief, or a feeling of being high, these disorders severely affect a person’s normal day-to-day life rendering him/her largely dysfunctional to carry on with the routines of life. Their mood swings are either too high or too low. A clinically depressed person might lose all interest and hope in life.
They could lose their appetite, find it difficult to go to sleep, and when they go to sleep they keep walking up and find it difficult to go back to sleep. They might become unable to look after their own needs and the needs of their families. Often they are preoccupied with ending their life. In a manic state, their minds become overly active; they make grandiose plans, often go on buying sprees, talk incessantly, and generally appear hyperactive.
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Anxiety Disorders
These disorders are characterized by a generalized feeling of anxiety and fear. Severe anxiety about impending doom may lead to panic attacks, whereby a person may begin to feel physically weak, dizzy, unable to breathe, and may even faint.
Anxiety may also show up in the form of phobias, physical aches and pains, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, nervousness, and a generalized feeling of stress. Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior also result from severe anxiety and fear, which the patient generally is not able to control.
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Personality Disorders
These disorders refer to behaviors or traits that are characteristics of a person’s recent and long-term functioning generally since adolescence or early adulthood. These behaviors or traits cause either significant impairment in social or occupational functioning or subjective distress. These disorders are manifested by difficulties in interpersonal relationships with others. There are many different types of personality disorders. Some of them are known as obsessive–compulsive, antisocial, paranoid, avoidant, narcissistic, and dependent personalities and may lack sufficient coping mechanisms to adapt and deal with everyday stresses and problems. Generally, these individuals might not believe they have a problem or simply believe that this is the way they are and that they cannot change who they are. Therefore, they often do not seek any treatment. These disorders are some of the most difficult to treat, and often the caregivers and family members are the ones who suffer the most from their consequences.
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Addictions
Some consider addictions, to alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, and the internet, to be a form of mental illness. Often, these addictions meet some emotional and psychological needs of the person. A common theme of these conditions is the ongoing compulsive use/behavior despite harmful consequences.
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Intellectual Disabilities: Learning Developmental
These disorders are almost always diagnosed in early childhood. They generally result from a genetic condition, problems during pregnancy, complications at birth, and sometimes injuries to the brain and nervous system in later life. As a result, the person’s cognitive, psychological, emotional, and social functions are impaired. Consequently, he/she may not be able to develop normally, perform well in school and social situations, or be able to control his/her behavior. The treatment or management of these conditions depends upon the severity of the disability; However, a supportive and consistent environment at home and school significantly impacts success
Dealing with Mental Illness
It is important to understand that;
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Mental illness is indeed an illness and not a sign of one’s weakness.
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We do not choose to come mentally ill, like we do not choose to become physically ill.
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Mental illnesses result from a variety of causes including heredity, biochemical imbalances, learned behavior, trauma, and early life physical and/or emotional deprivation.
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Some physical illnesses, especially severe and chronic ones, may also cause some symptoms of mental illness, such as severe depression.
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Drug abuse and brain injury or dysfunction may also cause mental illness-like symptoms.
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Mental illness may be as painful as physical illness and sometimes the emotional pain is even worse.
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While a small number of severely mentally ill people might be violent, the vast majority of those with severe mental illness are more likely to be victims, rather than perpetrators of violence.
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Like physical illness, it is treatable. However, the treatment of mental illness may not be as straightforward as the treatment of physical illness.
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Often the family members have to get involved in the treatment and support of the patient. Without their involvement and support, recovery often may be very difficult or even impossible.
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Like some chronic physical illnesses, some types of mental illnesses require long-term treatment and the goal might be management, rather than cure.
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Like some physical illnesses, patients with serious mental illnesses may also need to be hospitalized for treatment.
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Unlike physical illnesses, context plays a very important role in the onset, duration, and treatment of mental illnesses.
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Impact and Effects of Islamophobia and Coping Strategies for Muslims in Canada: An Annotated Bibliography
CONTENTS
Preface
I. Coping With Islamophobia - Canada
II. Coping With Islamophobia - USA
III. Coping With Islamophobia - Rest of World
IV. Coping With Racism - Non-Muslim- Canada
V. Coping With Racism - Non-Muslim- USA
VI. Effects/Impact Of Islamophobia On Muslims/ Muslim Mental Health - Canada and the USA
Preface
While in everyday language we use the word “cope” or “coping” to mean how someone handled something difficult, the term “coping” is used in the mental health profession with domain-specific meanings that are connected to patient diagnosis and treatment. The American Psychological Association defines coping as: “the use of cognitive and behavioral strategies to manage the demands of a situation when these are appraised as taxing or exceeding one’s resources or to reduce the negative emotions and conflict caused by stress.” (https://dictionary.apa.org/coping) Algorani and Gupta (2023) point out that “coping” actions are conscious strategies, distinguished from subconscious or unconscious responses. Coping responses can be positive (comfort from family/friends, solace from religiosity, asserting one’s identity, increased civic or political engagement), or negative (fear, anxiety, depression, sadness and anger, PTSD, hiding one’s identity.) Medical research establishes that positive coping strategies are connected to mental and physical well-being; negative coping strategies are connected to the opposite – poor mental and/or physical well-being (Algorani and Gupta 2023). Algorani and Gupta (2023) summarise coping “measurement scales” clinicians turn to in patient assessment. They argue it is important in treating a patient to know this profile because it influences treatment that helps a person heal.
Algorani and Gupta’s (2023) brief summary of what “coping” means from the point of view of medical experts does not explore the stressors and triggers that patients are responding to. There is a consensus in the scholarly literature, especially from the medical sector that, “experiencing discrimination and racism is associated with negative health outcomes such as depression, anxiety and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (Abu-Ras and Suarez 2009, 48).” This applies to children as well, where scholars conclude that “sustained exposure to discrimination has effects that adversely impact mental and physical health and child development (Arioan, 2012).”
The forms of discrimination against Muslims known as “Islamophobia” or “anti-Muslim racism” are no different. Although anti-Muslim racism existed before 9/11, there are very few studies about how Muslims cope with Islamophobia, especially for Canada. Scholars point to the fallout from 9/11 as a “collective trauma.” (Zine 2022, 14.) Colleen Lundy (cited in Elkassem, S., et al 2018), professor emeritus at Carleton University, argued in 2011 that during this post 9/11 era of overt systemic discrimination against Muslims, the social work profession in Canada has been ominously silent in the way they respond to clients who may be impacted by Islamophobia. Sara Ali and Rania Awaad (2019) and Andrew J. McLean (2019, 361) in their chapters in a unique book entitled Islamophobia and Psychiatry Recognition, Prevention, and Treatment maintain that “Islamophobia should be conceptualized as a public health threat to Muslim Americans (Ali and Awaad 2019, 377).”
Social scientists from diverse disciplines such as criminology, political science, sociology, and women’s studies are also exploring how Muslims cope with Islamophobia. They may not use psychological medical scales in their research, nor examine “coping” from the same point of view as a mental health expert, yet they are covering the same ground, using different methodologies and theoretical insights. Usually based on qualitative interviews, they explore with their participants everyday life experiences of Muslims facing discrimination. They collect stories of what is happening on the ground, how incidents make a person think and feel, and what they did or did not do in response. Qualitative-based stories of “this happened to me” are crucial to understanding the phenomena of racism and its impacts and effects – especially in a context of denial from dominant groups, some of whom claim, “there is no Islamophobia in Canada.” No solution is possible without this knowledge. In addition to using the word “coping,” albeit in a non-technical way, social science scholars will also use words such as “counter,” “reaction,” or “response.”
Social scientists make a valuable contribution to dealing with the issue of Islamophobia by being able to place individuals’ experiences in the socio-political context in which we live: a society whose power relations are shaped around white privilege (amongst others including class and gender). Systemic, institutional and individual everyday racisms (Essed 1991) exclude, demeans, belittles and harm racialized minorities, including Muslims. Psychologists assess and develop treatment plans for an individual to help them cope. This support is essential for individuals facing racism to help them turn to positive coping strategies. The Muslim community needs to develop diagnosis and treatment plans that pull from our tradition as well as secular best practices. There are pioneers working on this (Awaad 2015; Keshavarzi et al 2020).
But as a doctor once told me, in the long run this is unfair. It makes the victim responsible for their healing. In the end systemic racism needs to be tackled so that we do not need to teach people how not to be damaged by it.
The Institute of Muslim Mental Health Canada is contributing to community well-being through a knowledge hub that includes this annotated bibliography. The idea is to collect in one place academic literature focused on coping so that practitioners, academics, policymakers, and community members have easy access to the relevant literatures. I have curated this bibliography from both medical and social science literatures. I am grateful for the research and annotation assistance of Sabah Ghouse, Humairaa Karodia and Radiyyah Karodia. As well as reference tracking in articles we read, we searched various databases including the University of Toronto Library Catalogue (Canada’s largest academic library system, and the fourth largest in North America), GoogleScholar, ProQuest, and Scopus, using keywords “Islamophobia and Canada,” “coping and mental health,” “coping and Islamophobia,” “coping and racism.” The dearth of literature on this topic, only 13 for Canada, 5 of which are post-graduate thesis, shows how much research still needs to be done in what is an emerging field of enquiry. This is a living document that will be updated periodically as new material is published or found.
The annotations are not the abstracts provided by the authors, rather summaries that pull out the main arguments and aspects of interest that make the entry relevant to the task of understanding and coping with Islamophobia in Canada. While there is a vast literature on Islamophobia, often it documents incidents of racism (necessary in the face of denials), without exploring in depth the aftermath of an incident – how the person coped, both in the moment and in the months and years ahead. So, this annotated bibliography has this special focus on coping. Entries that do not discuss coping meaningfully are not included. A final section includes entries that discuss impacts or effect of Islamophobia with a focus on mental health.
From this literature review we can see the traumatic impact Muslims experience when managing racist experiences. An incomplete list includes: anxiety; anger; avoidance; burden of representation; careful of behaviour; depression; exhaustion; fear; hide identity; isolation; low self-esteem; PTSD; sadness; and shame. Researchers document positive coping responses that can be grouped under 5 themes usually in a descending order of frequency: Peer Support; Faith; Giving Collegial Feedback; Official Reporting; and Advocacy. Abu-Ras and Abu-Bader’s (2008, 230) findings that mental health professionals are rarely accessed to cope with racism is consistent with most of the research conducted.
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Works Cited
Abu-Ras, W., and Abu-Bader, S. H. (2008). The Impact of the September 11, 2001, Attacks on the Well-Being of Arab Americans in New York City. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 3 (2), 217–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564900802487634.
Abu-Ras, W. M., and Suarez, Z. E. 2009. Muslim Men and Women’s Perception of Discrimination, Hate Crimes, and PTSD Symptoms Post 9/11. Traumatology, 15 (3), 48-63. Algorani, E.B., and Gupta, V. (2023) Coping Mechanisms. In National Library of Medicine. Treasure Island, Florida: StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559031/
Ali, S. and Awaad, R., (2019). Islamophobia and Public Mental Health: Lessons Learned from Community Engagement Projects. In: Moffic, H. S., Peteet, J., Hankir, A. Z., Awaad, R., Editors. 2019. Islamophobia and Psychiatry Recognition, Prevention, and Treatment. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 375-390.
Aroian, K. J. (2012). Discrimination Against Muslim American Adolescents. The Journal of School Nursing, 28 (3), 206-213. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059840511432316 Awaad, R. (2015). A Journey of Mutual Growth: Mental Health Awareness in the Muslim Community. In Roberts, L.W., Reicherter, D., Adelsheim, S., Joshi, S.V,. Editors. Partnerships for Mental Health Narratives of Community and Academic Collaboration. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 137-145.
Elkassem, S., Csiernik, R., Mantulak, A., Kayssi, G., Hussain, Y., Lambert, K., Bailey, P., and Choudhary, A. 2018. Growing Up Muslim: The Impact of Islamophobia on Children in a Canadian Community. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 12, (1), 3-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/jmmh.10381607.0012.101.
Essed, P. (1991). Understanding Everyday Racism an Interdisciplinary Theory. Newbury Park: Sage.
Keshavarzi, H., Khan, F., Ali, B., Awaad, R. (2020). Applying Islamic Principles to Clinical Mental Health Care: Introducing Traditional Islamically Integrated Psychotherapy. New York: Routledge.
McLean, A.J. (2019). Community Resilience. In: Moffic, H. S., Peteet, J., Hankir, A. Z., Awaad, R., Editors. Islamophobia and Psychiatry Recognition, Prevention, and Treatment. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 361-373.
Zine, J. (2022). Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Katherine Bullock, PhD
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