Muslims are one of the largest groups of immigrants, migrants, and refugees who originally come from various parts of the non-western world. However, the dialogue surrounding Islam and its connection to mental health is widely misunderstood.

For everyone’s benefit, it is integral to correctly recognize and utilize the relationship between Islamic experiences and mental wellness. This segment of the population needs to be accurately understood and adequately supported. 

Diaspora trauma in Muslim families

Migrations and diasporas have occurred for centuries. Political, humanitarian, and monetary factors have consistently driven individuals to move from their homes to other countries, hundreds or thousands of miles away. 

Moving from one place to another, where you may not speak the language or have people to call your own, can cause significant mental strain and trauma. These effects are exacerbated for those who migrate due to force or sheer necessity. Intergenerational trauma is prevalent within the families of these immigrants.

What counts as trauma? 

Broadly, “trauma” refers to the lasting emotional responses that may result from living through greatly disturbing events. 

While traumatic experiences are thought to involve threats to life or personal safety, any situation can lead to trauma. If an event elicits intense feelings of helplessness, isolation, or numbness, it can count as traumatic. Subjective emotional perspectives and responses are the real markers of trauma.

Factors that can increase the likelihood of traumatization and PTSD

Regardless of religion or migration status, specific characteristics within an individual’s personality or environment can directly affect the development of posttraumatic symptoms. 

According to Dr. Rebecca Morse, the Director of Research Training (DRT) and the chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University, a previous history of trauma, preexisting mental health issues, a lack of social support, and the type of trauma can all dictate the course of traumatization and PTSD. 

She also mentions the significance of adverse childhood experiences (ACES). “If the person had experienced ACEs,” she says, “that is a very strong predictor of stronger trauma symptoms.” 

Some common ACEs in Muslim and other immigrant families in areas of turmoil and war are emotional neglect, household violence, and mental illness in the family.

Migration itself is not classified as an ACE. However, experiencing migration, displacement, and other related traumas in addition to common ACEs in Muslim and immigrant families, can lead to toxic stress. Toxic stress refers to the excessive activation of the body’s stress response system that can lead to lasting wear and tear on the body and brain. This process can pass down to oncoming generations through epigenetics and learned behavior.

A great range of traumatic experiences can lead to PTSD, including physical or sexual assault, serious accidents, and childhood or domestic abuse. For immigrants, events that can lead to PTSD might be instances of war, conflict, and torture. 

PTSD develops in about 1 in 3 people who experience trauma. “A good indicator for PTSD, is an acute response to experienced grief a little bit further out from when it took place,” says Morse. “Whereas others would be moving to process the events at this time, these individuals would still be experiencing severe posttraumatic-stress symptoms, and would likely need some help to process and work through their symptoms and emotions.”

What is intergenerational trauma?

Trauma can establish as a result of something called ‘intergenerational trauma.’ The terms intergenerational trauma or transgenerational trauma describe the transfer or passing down of traumatic responses and emotional after-effects across multiple generations in a family or close-knit community. 

“Intergenerational trauma can go quite far back into an individual’s family line,” says Kara Hokes, a clinical psychology doctoral candidate at George Mason University. “For example, ramifications of slavery can still be clearly seen in the U.S. among Black Americans.”

Generations impacted by intergenerational trauma often have signs and symptoms of depersonalization, emotional numbness, depression and anxiety, a lack of self-worth and confidence, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The connection between intergenerational trauma and Muslim immigrants

People from marginalized groups may have more pronounced transgenerational trauma experiences. Individuals who are descendants of those who have lived through violence or trauma are more likely to experience intergenerational trauma. 

Hokes also mentions that individuals with minority identities are “often exposed to higher incidents of race-based stress and trauma, which can increase the risk of intergenerational trauma transmission.”

“Individuals who have never been exposed to trauma firsthand yet suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder should consider the presence of intergenerational trauma,” she says. Muslim families with experiences of abuse, torture, oppression, genocide, and other forms of brutal violence within their family history are at greater risk of intergenerational trauma.

Direct traumatic experiences in various Muslim communities

Experiencing or witnessing traumatic events such as war, threats of violence and/or death, severe injuries, accidents, or acts of sexual violence can result in mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. All of these can have negative consequences on children and families. Additionally, insufficient ways of coping can set unfavorable precedents for younger generations.

Experiences of immigration and trauma are different for various sections of the Muslim community. Tahani Chaudry, a clinical psychology Ph.D. student at George Mason University, elaborates on this. “Situational context is really important. It’s important to consider the dynamic of every community and how those dynamics carry forward across generations.” 

“Pathways of immigration have been different for different groups,” she says. “For example, coming from the more recent immigrant waves of Arab and South-Asian Muslims, their trauma likely would come from refugee status and being victims of war, and the original Muslim-migrant wave of African-Americans would likely hold trauma related to slavery and institutional racism.”

Historical factors

Many first-generation immigrants hold trauma from major historical events, such as the partition of Pakistan and India, or the Palestinian Nakba. These immigrants have large amounts of unaddressed trauma and traumatic responses. This suppression can lead to a less- than-ideal mindset when raising and supporting a family and community. 

According to Sarah Ahmed, a Muslim psychotherapist of South-Asian descent, the effects of British colonization on the Indo-Pak world arena in the 19th century, as well as the effects of the Pakistan-India partition later on, still carry on today. The effect of untreated trauma often takes a huge toll on Muslim-immigrant families, which can carry on into further generations decades down the line. 

Epigenetic transfer of trauma

In the 1990s, researchers attempted to discover biological mechanisms of intergenerational trauma through epigenetics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), epigenetics is “the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.” Evidently, children can be exposed to and influenced by parental trauma even prior to conception. 

“It’s a combination of nature and nurture,” says Morse. “You have individuals whose parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etcetera, have gone through trauma, and they have seen the patterns on how each generation responds to traumatic events.”

Morse explains that animal studies have shown that the babies of subjects exposed to trauma have certain neurological differences. Trauma can induce neurochemical changes within individuals, pre-notating how they may respond to certain stimuli and situations. 

Morse says it’s crucial to understand the combination of learned behavior and biological influences within someone who might be a few generations removed from direct trauma. These individuals may still be experiencing developmental differences due to intergenerational trauma. The effects may be compounded, she says, if there were instances of trauma in multiple generations within a family line. 

Repression of trauma perpetuates intergenerational trauma

The consequences of intergenerational trauma are rarely discussed. Thus, elders from immigrant families don’t always heal from or learn to explore their trauma and its effects. Consequently, this leads to them developing unhealthy coping mechanisms such as denial, distance and detachment, and violence. 

“Cognitively processing the trauma is absolutely imperative and important,” says Morse. With or without professional help, trauma survivors need to focus on processing and healing from their trauma, without moving into territory in which they’ve entwined their personality with the mindset of victimhood. “It’s making sure that your new identity takes into account that trauma, but that trauma shouldn’t be the focus of who you are now.”

Other common symptoms of PTSD

Other PTSD symptoms that could occur in a traumatized individual are avoidance, nightmares, and flashbacks, and added vulnerability to risk factors in the future. Chaudry mentions that many immigrants use avoidance and dissociation as coping mechanisms. 

“It’s very common for people to push down and suppress memories of traumatic events, and these mechanisms are rampant in cultures that stigmatize mental health.” The effects of these inadequate coping mechanisms usually go on to affect further generations within Muslim communities. “Avoidance and suppression do not work,” says Chaudry. “No matter how much you try, it will [always] come out in different ways.” 

Children learn from what they see their parents doing. When a parent is having difficulty regulating their emotions healthily, they are modeling unhealthy coping mechanisms for their children. “If a parent shuts down in response to anxiety, then that is what the child will learn to do,” says Chaudry. Modeling unhealthy coping mechanisms is one of the most common ways trauma carries on throughout generations. 

A clash between religion and culture?

Islam isn’t inherently anti-mental health or wellness. In fact, Islam actually values the importance of mental health and emotional well-being. Islam also offers a spiritual sanctuary for Muslims. It offers ways to reach a state of balance with mental health and emphasizes patience and a growth mindset.

Various mental illnesses have been studied, discussed, and connected to Islam by Muslim scholars for centuries. Modern-day Muslim leaders and researchers push the need to combine spiritual and clinically-oriented treatments for mental health issues. 

Muslim immigrants can be stuck in their ways from back home. Religion is extremely important to immigrants. However, many fail to understand that certain aspects of religion from any section of the world are tainted by cultural nuances. This incorrect portrayal of Islam and, by connection, culture, causes children of immigrants and subsequent generations to move away from their culture and religion as a response to unresolved familial trauma. 

While Islam is not the source of the taboos many Muslims and Eastern cultures have surrounding topics of mental health, the confusion between pieces of religion and culture often make it out to be unaware and uncaring of mental health struggles, which simply isn’t true. 

Where culture may tell an individual that they’re experiencing mental health issues because they aren’t religious enough, Islam maintains there is always room for reorientation and improvement. Islam provides tools woven within the obligatory fabric of the religion that improve mindfulness, and mental peace, and stories within the Quran that show examples of responses to traumatic events. 

Religion as a coping mechanism

Chaudry also talks about how religion is used as a coping mechanism in Muslim communities. “If [implemented] and practiced correctly, a healthy coping mechanism for victims of trauma is religiosity,” she says. “One of the ideas Islam is built on is that ‘God has not burdened us more than we can bear.’ The emphasis of this idea can be looked at as the psychological principle of meaning-making and narrative reframing.”

Research shows that spirituality and religiosity are associated with better mental health. In fact, they have been identified as essential factors in preventing and treating mental illness and unwellness. Islam provides a sense of purpose and emotional peace through an attachment and connection with Allah. If practiced correctly and holistically, without the additions brought forth by culture, Islam provides guidance and solace to individuals going through hard times.

So, to answer our initial question: where do Islam and mental health intertwine?

The intersections between Islam and mental health are plenty. From the stories in the Quran and other religious texts about going through mental health crises to the guidelines provided in those texts and by scholars on achieving mental balance, Islam is flush with material and steps to reaching a state of mental wellness.

Unfortunately, Islam tends to be confused with cultural elements from Muslim-majority societies. These societies are often filled with taboos on mental health, inevitably leading to individuals not receiving the care they deserve from both Islamic and secular standpoints. 

Islam looks to implement a balanced, carefully curated model of care, adaptable to the needs of every individual. It combines religious beliefs and practice, providing certainty through a cognitive narrative. It also uses prayer as a mindfulness technique that helps individuals grounded. 

Islam does not teach us to see life as a place where good only happens to good people and bad only happens to bad people. The Prophet Muhammad said, “When Allah (God) loves a people, He tries them.” People who are tested with difficulties and prevail with the guidance of Islam and Allah, show immense belief and strength. They may be rewarded for their efforts in this life and surely rewarded in the Afterlife. 

Muslims and intergenerational trauma: what happened and what’s next?

The Muslim world has endured a lot of turmoil, from long-standing wars and conflicts, political corruption, and diasporas and colonizations. These events, coupled with a rigid, culture-laden, incorrect Islam, have instilled trauma in past generations of Muslim immigrants going back decades. 

This trauma has been passed down to subsequent generations through epigenetics and learned behavior. Consequently, this leads to the unfortunate perpetuation of intergenerational trauma in these communities. 

The effect of intergenerational trauma comes in the form of unhealthy parenting practices and coping mechanisms. Children learn from what they see, and if what they see isn’t healthy and ideal, the cycle of trauma will continue. 

Muslim communities and Muslim-immigrant communities must undo the taboo surrounding trauma, PTSD, and mental health at large. Muslim-immigrant families, youth, communities, and mental health professionals must learn to separate cultural practices from correct religious practices. 

Further resources

Many scholars and Islamic organizations, such as the Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology (MMHIP) Lab at Stanford University, and the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research based in Irving, Texas, have information and research surrounding mental health and Islam as connected topics. They have compiled ways to decrease the stigma surrounding these topics in Muslim communities across ages and cultures. 

This article is part of Supportiv’s Identity article collection.