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Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT March 7, 2003 "There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare." - Sun Tzu, C. 500 BC
Short Subjects
LINKS Mental Health Moment Online CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS:
Rocky Mountain Region
Disaster Mental Health Institute -
SPRING WORKSHOP SERIES
March 22 - Religious Aspects of
Domestic Violence
- Pat Bradley, MA, NACC, LAT
April 23, 24, 25 -
Crisis Counseling, Trauma, and Response:
A Multi-level Approach
- Marguerite McCormack, MA, LPC
May 3 - Suicide Risk Assessment and Risk Reduction: Tactics For The Trenches
- Jon Richard, PsyD
The Australasian Critical Incident
Stress Association Conference
The Right Response in the
21st Century
Location: Carlton Crest Hotel
Melbourne Australia
Friday October 3, 2003 thru
Sunday October 5, 2003
For further information
please contact the conference organisers:
ammp@optushome.com.au
Conference Website:
http://www.acisa.org.au/ conference2003/Summer Intensive Program
Graduate Certificate in
Disaster Mental Health
Disaster Mental Health Institute (University of South Dakota)
Location: Union Building
University of South Dakota Campus Vermillion, SD
Contact: Disaster Mental Health Institute
University of South Dakota
SDU 114 414 East Clark St
Vermillion, SD 57069-2390
Phone: 605-677-6575 or 800-522-9684
Fax: 605-677-6604
http://www.usd.edu/dmhi/Third Biennial International Conference
on Intercultural Research (IAIR)
May 16 - 19, 2003
Location: Taipei, Taiwan Contact: 2003 IAIR International Conference
C/o College of Education
NTNU, PO Box 7-763
Taipei, Taiwan 106
Tel: +(886)2-2321-3142
Fax +(886)2-2394-9243
Email: t14004@cc.ntnu.edu.tw
VIII European Conference
on Traumatic Stress(ECOTS)
May 22 - 25, 2003
Location: Berlin, GERMANY
Contact: Scientific Secretariat
VIII ECOTS Berlin 2003
c/o Catholic University of
Applied Social Sciences
Koepenicker Allee 39-57
D-10318 Berlin
Tel: +49-30-50 10 10 54
Fax: +49-30-50 10 10 88
E-mail: trauma-conference@kfb-berlin.de
Annual Conference Society for
Industrial/Organizational Psychology (SIOP)
April 12 - 14, 2003
Location: Orlando, Florida
USA
Contact: lhakel@siop.bgsu.edu
4th International Symposium on Bilingualism
April 30 - May 3, 2003
Location: Tempe, Arizona, USA
Contact:
4th International Symposium on Bilingualism
Arizona State University
PO Box 870211
Tempe, AZ 85287-0211, USA
Email: isb4@asu.edu
CREAD, PENN STATE TRAINING LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN HEALTH WORKERS
Penn State and the Inter-American Distance Education Consortium (CREAD) are working with the Pan-American Health Organization to help train thousands of pediatric health workers in Latin American and Caribbean countries using distance-learning technology as part of a U.N. strategy to drastically reduce mortality and morbidity among children under 5-years-old. The strategy, known as Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI), aims to improve the skills of health workers and the management of health facilities, as well as to educate and increase awareness in the community. CREAD plans to reach more workers more rapidly by converting the current face-to-face training model into a distance-learning approach. The main goal of the project is to increase the current number of 7,000 pediatric health-care workers trained each year in IMCI to an average of 25,000 a year with distance learning. For the full story,visit http://tango.outreach.psu.edu/Tango/OutreachNews/NewsRelease2.taf?function=detail&FullInfo_uid1=34002
Public Accounts of Shuttle Crash Sought
Government officials investigating the space shuttle are still seeking additional help from the public along the flight path of the Space Shuttle Columbia who may have images or first-hand reports of shuttle materials falling to the earth. These images and reports may be of help in the continuing investigation of the shuttle accident. For the full story, go to: http://www.fema.gov/diz03/e3171n42.shtm
Suicide: Historical, Descriptive, and Epidemiological Considerations
From the perspective of a mental health professional, suicidal acts are not rare. Suicide accounts for about 10% of deaths among psychiatric patients, and life-threatening attempts are much more common than fatalities. Suicide is a major public health challenge. It is the third leading cause of death among juveniles and young adults, and ranks eighth for all ages. In addition to its impact on survivors, suicide is not only distressing to clinicians caring for persons at risk but it is also a significant liability risk. Despite progress in defining risk rates and predictive factors, knowledge on which to base sound clinical and public policies regarding suicide prevention and treatment remains remarkably limited. This overview summarizes the current knowledge of suicide. For the full article, go to: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/413194_1
Suicide: Causes and Clinical Management
Suicidal acts are complex human behaviors involving many aspects of an individual's personality, state of health, and life circumstances. Since antiquity, the decision of putting an early end to one's own life has intrigued many philosophers and clinicians. Today, explanations of suicidal behavior have largely shifted from moral philosophy to medical biology, psychology, and sociology. All of these approaches can contribute to understanding both individual decisions to suicide and to addressing the clinical and public health challenge that suicide represents. Although factors associated with biology, psychology, and sociology are presented here as contributors to "causes" of suicide, it is important to emphasize that most have been identified essentially as additional risk factors found to be associated with suicide by clinical or epidemiological analysis. For the full article, go to: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/413195
It Could Happen Here
By Paul Ciotti
L.A. Weekly | March 3, 2003
ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2003, AROUND 5:30 P.M., a single-engine Cessna 172 passes over the Santa Monica Mountains, just west of the 405 freeway, heading southeast at 3,500 feet. Over the next 10 minutes it will fly over Brentwood, LAX, Hawthorne, Torrance and Long Beach. Because it will stay carefully in the prescribed north-south transit corridor through the Los Angeles Special Flight Rules Area and squawk code 1201 on the transponder; air traffic control will pay no attention to the plane, and the pilot won't be required to file a flight plan or identify himself in any way. For the complete scenario, go to: http://frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=6425
UN counter-terror panel to examine links with regional organizations
4 March – The United Nations Security Council will seek to boost the global fight against terrorism this week at a special meeting of its Counter-terrorism Committee (CTC) expected to be attended by more than 50 international, regional and sub-regional organizations. For full story, go to: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=6335&Cr=terror&Cr1=
Citing security needs, Annan calls for hold on UN force cutbacks in Timor-Leste
4 March – Citing "significant deterioration" in Timor-Leste's security environment, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for a freeze in planned cutbacks of UN military and police forces that helped guide the territory to independence last year. For full story, go to: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=6339&Cr=timor&Cr1=
ALASKA - `NK Missile Warhead Found in Alaska’ http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200303/kt2003030417272311970.htm
USA - US Urges Vigilance at Small Airports http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20030304_1890.html
USA - 'Neighborhood Watch' Program Announced For Small Airports http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/2018178/detail.html
USA - US reveals arrests of two more suspects in war on terror http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/local/5318749.htm
PAKISTAN - Bin Laden financier detained [Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi ] http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6079234%255E1702,00.html
PAKISTAN - Intercepted hand-written letters from bin Laden hint at his whereabouts http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,429036,00.html
CONGO - EBOLA DEATH TOLL KEEPS CLIMBING - Nearly 90 Deaths so far - 130 under surveillance http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/25185675?-3714
THE MEDICAL MINUTE: SMALLPOX - WHAT'S THE THREAT?
According to the latest edition of the Medical Minute, a service of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, about 40 percent of Americans have not been vaccinated against smallpox. As of 1972, children are no longer vaccinated against the disease. The military ceased its smallpox vaccination program in 1990. The reason -- there has not been a case of smallpox in the United States since 1949 nor in the world since 1977. The World Health Organization declared smallpox to be eradicated worldwide in 1980 as a result of an aggressive program of vaccination. Those who think this sounds like an ideal setting for terrorists to use smallpox as a weapon should think again. For the full Medical Minute by John Messmer, M.D., visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/2003/medicalminute025.html
MILITANT ISLAM AND TERRORISM
Western foreign policy makers have not fared well with Islamic fundamentalist groups. Why? Kreidie (2001) argues that Islamic fundamentalists pose such difficulties for Western governments not because the Islamic fundamentalists are terrorists prone to violence, for they are not simply that, but rather because the Islamic world view represents a different cognitive worldview, or 'Weltenschang'. This worldview differs in critical ways from the post-Enlightenment rationalist worldview prevalent in Western democracies. Kreidie attempts to explain the Islamic worldview through a narrative analysis of in-depth interviews with Islamic Fundamentalists conducted between July 1995 and August 1999. Kreidie's central argument is that Islamic fundamentalists differ from other social and political groups prevalent in the Middle East and Asia in their cognitive world views and their resultant attitudes toward the political process. Kreidie suggests treating Islamic fundamentalism as a form of ethical-political behavior that can best be explained through a social psychological approach. In a previous study, Monroe and Kreidie (1997) provided an empirical analysis of how fundamentalists see the world. They illustrated the importance of cognitive differences in worldviews held by fundamentalists. They used a narrative and survey interview technique to contrast the worldviews of 9 fundamentalists (aged 19-50 yrs) in the US or Lebanon with those of 5 comparable Muslims who were not fundamentalists. Their data suggest that Islamic fundamentalism attracts because it provides a basic identity, an identity which in turn provides the foundation for daily living. They suggest that the fundamentalist perspective itself is best understood through reference to a worldview which makes no distinction between public and private, in which truth is revealed by revelation, and reason is subservient to religious doctrine. Religious dictates dominate on all basic issues, and only within the confines of the fundamentalist identity are choices decided by a cost/benefit calculus (Kreidie, 2001).
Some Cultural sketches
As elsewhere in the Middle East, the Yemeni family is described as patrilineal, virilocal, and extended. This generalization is often inaccurate, but in the central highlands of the (former) Yemen Arab Republic, this family type represents both the cultural ideal and the social norm. Drawing on data from 10 rural communities, Stevenson (1997) examined the convergence of family form and household composition. Recognizing that internal dynamics are probably central to household unity or division, he discusses 5 activities, including, co-residence, production, transmission of property, reproduction, and distribution of resources. The extended family household as the cultural ideal and the decline in migration of the Yemen family are also discussed. Stevenson suggested that the confluence of cultural values, Islamic fundamentalism, and economic factors account for the high prevalence of extended or multiple family households.
Harik (1996) tested whether a hypothesis explaining popular support for Middle Eastern fundamentalist movements adequately describes the grassroots appeal of Hezbollah, Lebanon's radical Shiite organization. 1993 survey data from 405 respondents showed that Hezbollah adherents were less likely than expected to be deeply religious, to have a low SES, and to have a strong political alienation. She suggests that constraints imposed on Islamic goals by Lebanon's pluralist society and its powerful neighbor Syria have influenced the moderate trend of Hezbollah. Harik concludes that Islamist success in carving a niche in a community still seeking self-identity and adequate national representation means that Islamists are unlikely to lose external backers' support should Middle East peace negotiations reduce Hezbollah's resistance role.
Psychology of World Views
Bohleber (2002)examined the convictions and motives acted upon by the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks. He identified the ideological/religious factor as a crucial component because it appears to be the operative force behind the combination of narcissistic ideal condition and terrorist mass murder. He made general observations on the connection between religion, purity, and violence and enlarged upon the religious world view and mentality of Islamic fundamentalism (T. Reik, 1924; Grunberger, 1988). Bohleber found surprising similarities with ethnocentric German nationalism and radical nationalism after WWI. Some common traits include the same ubiquitous unconscious fantasies, such as care fantasies and sibling rivalry, purity and the idea of the other, visions of unity and fantasies of fusion. He offers some psychoanalytical thoughts on biographical material pertaining to two members of the circle close to the Al Qaeda terrorists.
Euben (1995) argues that the rational actor theory (RAT) and Islamic fundamentalism hold competing, inimical assumptions about human behavior. She contends that such differences suggest that the RAT reaches its limits when applied to fundamentalism and that such limitations must be seen as an expression of a deeper clash of worldviews - a clash between a world defined by divine sovereignty, and a world defined by human knowledge and power. The RAT cannot but misinterpret Islamic fundamentalism because RAT assumptions and the rationalist worldview of which they are an expression exclude fundamentalists' own conceptions of human nature and action. Euben suggests that the failure by American policy-makers to understand such essential differences accounts for misguided American policies in the Middle East.
The attainment of global shared values and norms is difficult because peoples of the world still embrace ideas of separateness reinforced by their normative systems. Michael and Anderson (1989) discuss six competing world views in the postmodern world they suggest are inadequate as normative frameworks for a global society. These are Western-style progress, Christian and Islamic fundamentalism, Marxist ideology, Green politics (identified with environmental values), and the new paradigm of superprogress. They note that conflict and stress will accompany the emergence of a global information system and that humanistic psychology may contribute to the understanding of this historical moment and the human need to find and create social meaning.
Growing Fundamentalism
One-fifth of the world's population currently follows the teachings of Islam. The believers are not just within the Middle East. China has three times as many Muslims as Saudi Arabia. Altogether, thirty-two countries have Muslim majorities of 85 percent or higher. Of the total Muslim population, about 10 percent is Shia, which have constituted the most deadly religious terrorist groups in the past (Wright, 1986). The Shia represent about 95 percent of Iran's population, 60 percent of Iraq's population, and a large share in Lebanon, Bahrain, and Qatar (Musacchio and Rozen, 1988). Additionally, near the border of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina there is a community of about 100,000 Shiites that has already been infiltrated by terrorists (Weiner, 1995). It has been speculated that the bombers of the Jewish Center in Rio de Janeiro came from this region of South America. Of Shiite religious leaders in recent history, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini made some of the most provocative statements, encouraging militancy among his followers. In 1979 he declared, "Islam is the religion of militant individuals who are committed to truth and justice. It is the religion of those who desire freedom and independence. It is the school of those who struggle against imperialism.... Weapons in our hands are used to realize divine and Islamic aspirations." (Wright, 1986; Tehran Radio, 1989).
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States today. Additionally, most major Middle East terrorist organizations have a presence in the United States. Three of the more active and well-known groups are Abu Nidal, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Hezbollah, primarily a Shiite group, is considered by Washington to be today's most aggressive and lethal terrorist organization. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also intensified investigations of pro-Hamas organizations in the United States in recent years. Hamas, as a leading opponent of the Middle East peace talks, has been very active with terrorist strikes in the Israeli occupied territories. One Palestinian arrested by Israeli security forces claimed that he received bomb training during a pro-Hamas conference in Kansas City (Chesnoff, 1993; Jenkins, 1993). On 26 October 1995 Fathi Shiqaqi, leader of the militant Islamic Jihad movement, was traveling on a Libyan passport under the alias of Ibrahim Ali Shawash, a businessman, when he was shot in broad daylight in Malta by two men riding a motorcycle. He was shot five times in the head with a silenced gun. The assailants later abandoned their vehicle, which had false license plates. In another case, Yahya Ayyash, a Hamas member said by Israel to be the brains behind a wave of suicide bomb attacks against Israel, and also known as the "Engineer," was killed on 5 January 1996, apparently by a booby-trapped cellular telephone in PLO-ruled Gaza (Reuters News Media, 6 January 1996, Gaza)(LaGuardia and Gozani, 1995).
The defeat of Iraq in Desert Storm seems to have contributed to a regional ideological shift toward pan-Islamic fundamentalism. After the demise of Saddam Hussein's secular pan-Arab ideology, Islamic fundamentalism has filled the void and offered a theological explanation for Iraq's defeat. The conflict also called into question Iraq's methods of warfare against the high-technology weapons of the West (Anderson, 1992).
Martyrdom has been and will continue to be one of the signatures of the Islamic terrorists. According to David Rapoport, "A martyr has six privileges with God: he is forgiven his sins, he is shown a place in paradise, he is redeemed from the torments of the grave, he is made secure from the fear of hell, and a crown of glory is placed on his head of which one ruby is worth more than the world and all that is in it, he will marry 72 of the huris with black eyes, and his intercession will be accepted for 70 of his kinsmen." (Rapoport, 1990). Hamza akl Hamieh, one of the most fearless fighters for Islam and a military commander for Amal, made the following statement shortly after the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983: "None of us are afraid. God is with us and gives us strength. We are making a race like horses to see who goes to God first. I want to die before my friends. They want to die before me. We want to see our God. We welcome the bombs of Reagan." (Wright, 1986).
The probability is good that the intensity of the religious terrorism threat will increase as the disparity grows between the wealthy secular nations and the destitute Islamic nations (Finnegan and Holzer, 1996; Hedges, 1995).
REFERENCES Anderson, Sean K. (1992). Iran: Terrorism and Islamic Fundamentalism. In Low-Intensity Conflict: Old Threats in a New World, ed. Edwin G. Corr and Stephen Sloan, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, ), pp. 176-177.
Asker, James R. (5 February 1996). What's Iran Up To? In Washington Outlook section of Aviation Week & Space Technology, p. 25.
Author (5 June 1989). Part I of Will and Testament. Tehran Radio, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, pp. 41-47.
Bohleber, Werner (2002). Kollektive Phantasmen, Destruktivitaet und Terrorismus. (Collective phantasms, destructivism, terrorism). Psyche: Zeitschrift fuer Psychoanalyse und ihre Anwendungen, Vol 56(8). pp. 699-720.
Chesnoff, Richard Z. (20 September 1993). Between Bombers and Believers. U.S. News & World Report, vol. 115, p. 35. This story was also reported in the 19 April 1993 issue of Security Intelligence Report, p. 3, in which it added that the conference also included training in Israeli intelligence methods.
Euben, Roxanne (1995). When worldviews collide: Conflicting assumptions about human behavior held by rational actor theory and Islamic fundamentalism. Political Psychology, Vol 16(1). Special Issue: Political economy and political psychology. pp. 157-178. Journal URL: http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/asp/journal.asp?ref=0162-895X Blackwell Publishers.
Finnegan, Philip and Holzer, Robert (6-12 February 1995). Iran Arms Cache on Disputed Islands Vexes U.S. Defense News, p. 1.
Grunberger, Bela (1988). "The Oedipal conflicts of the analyst" In: Pollock, George H. (Ed); Ross, John Munder (Ed) . The Oedipus papers. pp. 261-282.
Harik, Judith Palmer (1996). Between Islam and the system: Sources and implications of popular support for Lebanon's Hizballah. Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol 40(1). pp. 41-67. Sage Publications. http://www.sagepub.com
Hedges, Chris (5 January 1995). Iran May Be Able to Build an Atomic Bomb in 5 Years, U.S. and Israeli Officials Fear. New York Times, p. 10.
Hoffman, Bruce (March 1990). Recent Trends and Future Prospects of Iranian Sponsored International Terrorism. Santa Monica: RAND, Report R-3783-USDP.
International Symposium on Technology and Terrorism in Palm Springs, CA, 23-24 February 1994.
Jenkins, Robert M. (July 1993). The Islamic Connection. Security Management, vol. 37, p. 28.
Kreidie, Lina Haddad (2001). Deciphering the construals of Islamic fundamentalists. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities & Social Sciences, Vol 61(9-A). pp. 3753. University Microfilms International.
La Guardia, Anton and Gozani, Ohad (30 October 1995). Israel on Alert After Murder of Islamic Leader. The Electronic Telegraph, World News.
Michael, Donald N. and Anderson, Walter T. (1989). Norms in conflict and confusion: Six stories in search of an author.
, Vol 29(2). pp. 145-166. Monroe, Kristen Renwick and Kreidie, Lina Haddad (1997). The perspective of Islamic fundamentalists and the limits of rational choice theory. Political Psychology, Vol 18(1), pp. 19-43. http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/asp/journal.asp?ref=0162-895X Blackwell Publishers.
Musacchio, John M. and Rozen, Amon (1988). Fundamentalist Fervor: Islamic Terrorism in the '80s. Security Management p. 56.
Rapoport, David C. (1990). Sacred Terror: A Contemporary Example from Islam. In Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind, ed. Walter Reich. New York: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Cambridge University Press, pp. 117-118.
Reik, T. (1924). Some remarks on the study of resistances. Indian Journal of Psychology, 9, pp. 141-154.
Stevenson, Thomas B. (1997). Migration, family, and household in highland Yemen: The impact of socio-economic and political change and cultural ideals on domestic organization. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Vol 28(2), pp. 14-53.
Weiner, Tim (May 12, 1995). U.S. Lists Threats of Terrorism, Mainly from Iran. New York Times p. 3.
Wright, Robin (1986). Sacred Rage.New York: Simon & Schuster.
Wright, Robin (Summer 1992). Islam, Democracy, and the West. Foreign Affairs, p. 143).
To search for books on disasters and disaster mental
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RECOMMENDED READING
The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder
by Bassam Tibi
Book Description
Long before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Islamic fundamentalism was exerting a significant influence in nearly every corner of the world. Bassam Tibi, a widely recognized expert on Islam and Arab culture, offers an important and disquieting analysis of this particular synthesis of religion and politics. A Muslim and descendant of a famous Damascene Islamic scholar family, Tibi sees Islamic fundamentalism as the result of Islam's confrontation with modernity and not only--as it is widely believed--economic adversity. The movement is unprecedented in Islamic history and parallels the inability of Islamic nation-states to integrate into the new world secular order. For this updated edition, Tibi has written a new preface and lengthy introduction addressing Islamic fundamentalism in light of and since September 11. 1 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Bassam Tibi was born in Damascus and is currently Professor of International Relations at the University of Göttingen, Germany. He is the author of several books in English, including Islam between Culture and Politics (2001), Arab Nationalism (third edition, 1996), Conflict and War in the Middle East, 1967-1981 (new edition, 1997), and The Crisis of Modern Islam (1988). --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Additional Readings at: Islamic Fundamentalism in the search engine. Also try looking here for Psychology and Terrorism.
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Contact your local Mental Health Center or
check the yellow pages for counselors, psychologists,
therapists, and other Mental health Professionals in
your area for further information.
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George W. Doherty
Rocky Mountain Region
Disaster Mental Health Institute
Box 786
Laramie, WY 82073-0786
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT Online: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news
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