Homegrown Paranoia: Surveillance Experiences, Collective Self-Esteem and Social Connectedness as They Relate to Clinical and Subclinical Paranoid Ideation for Muslim Americans

Rihab Mahmood, Pace University

Abstract

Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Programs and their variations have existed in the United States since 2007 to increase surveillance on individuals and populations deemed suspicious and at-risk of terrorist activity (Michel, 2015). In practice, many CVE programs, which have focused on surveillance of Muslim community centers, schools, and mosques, have led to a criminalization of Muslim identity at-large, suggesting the biased lawmaking and leading to a host of legal and personal advocacy efforts against these programs (American Civil Liberties Union, 2011; Council on American-Islamic Relations, 2015). Previous literature has found that for Muslim Americans, experiences of discrimination and levels of paranoia are positively associated, but there is limited research on the psychological impacts of surveillance specifically (Rippy & Newman, 2006). This study seeks to understand further the long-term impacts of invasive CVE programs on the intra- and interpersonal functioning of Muslim American populations. An online survey was used to collect mixed qualitative and quantitative data to explore associations among individual experiences with surveillance, social connectedness within their Muslim and/or greater U.S. American community, collective self-esteem, and levels of clinical or subclinical paranoid ideation among Muslim individuals living in the U.S. who are 18 or older. Majority of participants endorsed first-hand (n = 13, 15.7%) or second-hand (n = 25, 42.2%) experiences with government surveillance and first-hand (n = 48, 57.8%), or second-hand (n =25, 30.1%) negative experiences with government agencies. Participants endorsed a significantly higher level of paranoid ideation compared to normative samples, and paranoid ideation was negatively associated with social connectedness. Those who had first-hand experienced surveillance endorsed significantly higher subclinical and clinical levels of paranoid ideation, suggesting that there is an association between these experiences of being watched and invaded and experiencing clinically significant feelings of mistrust and lack of safety. Qualitative themes were also considered, indicating negative psychosocial consequences that surveillance structures such as spying, donation monitoring, and incarceration have had on Muslim Americans. This has profound implications for a community that appears to exist at a baseline state of structurally-induced paranoia. These findings also have implications for clinicians or school staff who may overpathologize Muslim patients and students without considering the systemic context which creates a foundation of paranoia as a defense. Primarily, it serves to give valuable data to support those who are working to dismantle harmful structural practices such as CVE programs.

Subject Area

Psychology|Clinical psychology|Islamic Studies|Social psychology

Recommended Citation

Mahmood, Rihab, "Homegrown Paranoia: Surveillance Experiences, Collective Self-Esteem and Social Connectedness as They Relate to Clinical and Subclinical Paranoid Ideation for Muslim Americans" (2023). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI30818727.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI30818727

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