Psychological impact on the Muslims
Humans have a tendency to view opponents as a simple collective rather than distinct complex individual. Sometimes the west views the Muslims as potential threat and sometimes the Muslims blame the west for significant distress created in many parts of the world. It’s not about the Muslims or the non-Muslims rather a belief that one race is superior to the other and this notion is well incorporated in the minds of every individual. The history of humans is a history of inter-group conflict, whether it is between tribes, city states, kingdoms, or nations. Brutality, ruthlessness, violence in the name of religion or any other political agenda creates not only havoc among the masses in any society but is rather an act of cowardice. Determining what drives people to commit such acts of violence is hard to observe.
The 9/11 attack, almost 14 years ago, created a massive outrage among the non-Muslim community against the Muslims around the world, making their lives miserable in every way possible. The Paris attack at Charlie Hebdo on January 7th, 2015, has given the world a reason once again to point fingers at the religious as well as political identities of those who fired the bullets activating similar reflexes as 9/11 attack. It is not yet clear about the identities of the shooters but they have been labelled by the world as Islamist extremists on the basis of the image already formed years ago.
France has the largest Muslim population in Europe and labelling them as terrorists or Islamist extremists across the globe will bring them at risk to be harassed or teased by any non-Muslim community in any part of the world. As a result of the attack at Charlie Hebdo, across Europe liberal-minded societies are beginning to divide over how best to deal with terrorism and its impact on other countries, while governments struggle over the potential for a backlash against Muslims living in Europe, making it hard for them to persist in a favourable environment over a conception formed years ago.
The potential backlash, however, includes support for majority parties and groups that will categorically upset Muslims living in Europe more than anyone else, making it hard for the authorities to ponder over a concerning issue of how to confront violence in the name of religion without victimising minorities. This is by far the most sensitive situation for the Muslims and is a matter of great sorrow primarily because of the alienation the Muslims feel while living in Western Europe.
This debate further raises significant queries as to when non-Muslims are killed by terrorists of any origin, they are labelled as radical Islamists and the world starts talking about a clash of civilisation. On the other hand, if Muslims are killed around the globe i.e., Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Palestine, Syria etc, the world rationalise it as stereotypical violence taking place in the third world. In all this, majority of peaceful ordinary Muslims are caught in a tight wedge trying to find their way to secure a position in the western society.
Psychologically speaking, as history suggests a lot of discriminatory effort is seen over the years between Muslims and non-Muslims. Subsequent depression, anxiety and psychological distress were a result of ongoing racial profiling and discrimination. After the 9/11 attack, the Muslims living in the US experienced fear of hate crimes, threats to their safety, anxiety about their future, isolation and loss of community and stigmatisation leading to a traumatic life. The European Muslims now face their worst threat of living under strict discriminatory factors. Over the years, Muslims are being denied the possibility of becoming an integral part of the non-Muslim states they have settled in for many generations.
There are undeniably strong psychological differences between Muslims and non-Muslims and it has been prevailing since decades. The world needs to understand that ‘Muslim’ is a religious label and does not pertain to race; the line between racism and religious discrimination is unfortunately blurred. The constant Islamophobic rhetoric, a dread or hatred of Islam, around the world has increased over time, especially in Europe and now the repercussions of Paris attack will further motivate the non-Muslims to carry out discriminatory efforts against the Muslims. Mental health prevention/intervention programmes should consider psycho-educational strategies that validate such cognitive/affective experiences and provide coping strategies for management of anticipation anxiety and discrimination trauma.