Category: Vulnerable Populations
Merranda McLaughlin, M.S.
Graduate Student
University of Miami
MIAMI BEACH, Florida
Salman Ahmad, M.S.
Graduate Student
University of Miami
Miami, Florida
Amy Weisman de Mamani, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Miami
Coral Gables, Florida
Katrina Rbeiz, B.S., B.A.
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee
Rania Awaad, M.D.
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Merranda McLaughlin, M.S.
Graduate Student
University of Miami
MIAMI BEACH, Florida
Salman Ahmad, M.S.
Graduate Student
University of Miami
Miami, Florida
Muslims living in the United States (MLUS) are facing a mental health crisis due to high rates of discrimination and low utilization of mental health services. Although research on Muslim mental health is rising, it still lags behind work in other minoritized racial/ethnic and religious US groups. In addition, the lack of conversation regarding this crisis in mainstream psychological circles and conferences is concerning. However, recent work by scholars in the field has been contributing to a greater understanding of the nuanced difficulties experienced by MLUS, and is sparking ideas on how to overcome them. This panel seeks to increase visibility surrounding the MLUS mental health crisis by describing some of this emerging research. A clinical psychology Ph.D. student will initiate this panel by discussing a systematic literature review of studies that investigated risks of psychosis in Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) populations, over 90% of whom are Muslim. The second speaker is the PI of a Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology Lab, who found that MLUS were twice as likely as those of other faith groups to report past suicide attempts. She will discuss potential explanations for this crisis as well as plans for sharing resources and intervening in Muslim communities. These talks will be followed by presentations from the Muslim American Project, co-founded by two clinical psychology Ph.D. students. The third speaker investigated the common view that converts to Islam are more zealous than lifelong Muslims, and found that convert MLUS may in fact be more prone to experiencing distress when struggling with their faith or engaging in negative religious coping. The fourth speaker validated the spiritual bypass scale (SBS-13) in MLUS, and in a first, assessed its one year test-retest reliability. He also found that spiritual bypass (i.e., avoidance of emotional difficulties via spirituality) predicted negative psychological help-seeking attitudes and greater self-stigma of seeking help over time. The panel’s discussant has developed culturally informed therapy (CIT), a spiritually integrated cognitive behavioral treatment. She will synthesize the literature shared in the panel, and will speak to her team’s goals of delivering and assessing CIT among Muslims in Florida, including how they plan to tackle issues such as high stigma and low help-seeking along the way. There is mounting evidence that MLUS are facing a mental health crisis today. More conversation surrounding this issue and collaboration between scholars on the front lines may help to address this epidemic.
Presenter: Katrina Rbeiz, B.S., B.A. – Vanderbilt University
Presenter: Rania Awaad, M.D. – Stanford University
Presenter: Merranda M. McLaughlin, M.S. – University of Miami
Co-author: Salman S. Ahmad, M.S. – University of Miami
Co-author: Amy G. Weisman de Mamani, Ph.D. – University of Miami
Presenter: Salman S. Ahmad, M.S. – University of Miami
Co-author: Merranda M. McLaughlin, M.S. – University of Miami
Co-author: Amy G. Weisman de Mamani, Ph.D. – University of Miami