DISORDER DIAGNOSED

Eleanor Hall, host of the ABC's The World Today, introduces a report on a recent survey by racism researcher Dr Kevin Dunn:

The Muslim community in Australia has challenged political leaders and the media to study a survey that's highlighted a large degree of ignorance and fear amongst Australians about Islam...

Published this week, the survey has found that the most common stereotypes of Islam are that it's a fundamentalist religion, and an intolerant and threatening one.

However, the survey's authors, Muslim leaders and psychologists say they remain positive that the situation can be turned around to reduce the level of ignorance, and the associated perceptions of fear.

Dr Dunn accounts for the ignorance and fear:

It's linked to geo-political events and the way in which we hear about Islam at the moment in Australia, which is a fairly narrow set of ways that we hear about them. It's in the context of geo-political conflicts and threats of terror and those sorts of things.

So that's not a good way for us to hear about a faith and it does increase the level of threat perception.

Nada Roude of the Islamic Council of New South Wales continues the theme:

Often language is a very serious identifier of some of the misconceptions, so when our leaders, and I mean our Government and politicians and media representatives, represent Islam in an hysterical way, or characterise Islam as something to be feared, then obviously that filters to the rests of the community.

Bob Montgomery of the Australian Psychological Society rounds out the case for our irrational fear of Muslims by saying it's a product of group identity:

And that tells you, this is my group, this is where I belong, this is where I feel safe, where I feel supported and they are someone who's a stranger from outside and not a member of my group and therefore someone I should be wary of.

So if you have had no great contact with people from an Islamic background, and then you suddenly meet some, I'd say the chances are you're going to be more than wary. The prejudice already been built up.

So, why's a psychologist involved in this discussion unless the ignorance and fear is a manifestation of some underlying pathology? The Australian Psychological Society claims psychologists "help mentally healthy people find ways of functioning better". But if you click on the link "Why consult an APS psychologist?" you'll see this list of reasons for visiting a psychologist:

• ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in children
• Bipolar Disorder (formerly manic depression)
• Depression
• Eating disorders
• Lifestyle effects on health
• Preventing suicide
• Relationship problems
• Schizophrenia
• Traumatic events

Clearly Australians would benefit from some professional help with their Islamophobia issues. Maybe it's time to add Islamophobia to that list.