Muslim women and mental health care: Reflections from the series Ethos

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in the dimension of religiosity in the health area, Muslims have been neglected in the psychology field. Mental health professionals know little about this religion and its followers. However, the Muslim population is growing, both through reversions and immigration/refuge, leading them to seek psychological care services. To address this divergence, this article aims to present points that should be considered about Muslim women’s mental health. To this end, we considered the Turkish series Ethos, which depicts the psychotherapeutic process of a Muslim woman who wears the hijab, the Islamic veil. The analysis of the corpus led to three axes, pointing to (a) the need for psychoeducation of the Muslim community in the face of tensions and stigmas; (b) ethnocentrism and Islamophobia as obstacles to the psychotherapeutic process; and (c) the importance of sensitive listening for a psychological practice open to cultural-religious diversity. The study, in confluence with ethnographic research conducted in the Brazilian Islamic field, allows us to highlight possibilities, challenges, and ethical aspects of the relationship between religion and mental health care.