Courses

In this seminar, we will take a deep dive into the causes of xenophobia. Only worsened by the COVID-19 pandemics, we will explore the extent communities experience different psychological impacts from xenophobia. While the topic of Islamophobia will take center stage in this class, students will also lead discussions on other forms of xenophobia in order to better grasp the psychology of xenophobia and its societal ramifications. This course will provide students with the opportunity to engage with guest speakers and virtual field trips to community partners that will provide students with different perspectives and a deeper understanding of these topics.

For Stanford psychiatry residents, this course was evaluated using qualitative and quantitative approaches (please see publication below). This course was also presented as a workshop at the 2014 American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training,  AADPRT in Tucson, AZ, the 2016 Conference on Medicine and Religion in Houston, TX, and in 2016 at the 1st International Congress on Spiritual Counseling in Istanbul, Turkey. The course was featured in the APA's Psychiatric News Feb 2015.  “Learning About Spirituality Improves Competency

The first psychiatric hospitals in the world were established as early as the 8th century during the Islamic Golden Era. Despite the emergence of a highly sophisticated and interdisciplinary system of understanding the human psyche in early Islamic history, most modern psychology students are unfamiliar with this rich history. This course will provide a historical and contemporary review of modern behavioral science’s Islamic intellectual heritage and how mental illness was historically perceived and treated in the Muslim world. We will begin with a discussion of Islamic epistemology, reconcile issues such as secular vs. sacred sources of knowledge, and tackle the mind/body dilemma according to Islamic theology. We will then review holistic schemas of health and pathology in the Islamic religious tradition, the nature of the human being, elements of the human psyche, and principles of change leading to positive character reformation. Since Stanford is the academic home of Muslim mental health research globally, we will benefit from guest researchers and speakers’ talks, partake in field trips to community partners, and utilize group discussions to provide students with a deeper understanding of these topics.