Variables in Muslim American culture
As a young Muslim American and aspiring clinical psychologist, I read the April Monitor article "Islamophobia" with great interest. I did note, however, that it seemed the article and accompanying photographs focused on a beautiful but particular representation of Islam. In the same way we caution against essentialism when linking Islam to acts of terrorism, it is important to remain mindful of contributors to acculturative stress other than religion for young Muslim Americans, specifically ethnic identity and parent-child conflict. Of course, assessing these variables is difficult given the lack of validated psychometric scales for this population. The Muslims and Mental Health Lab at Stanford Medicine has developed resources that may be helpful for interested clinicians and researchers.
Zabin S. Patel, MPH
Predoctoral Psychology Trainee, University of Miami
Clarifying sexual attraction
We wish to express a concern about the March "CE Corner" article, "How Should a Psychologist Advise a Heterosexual Man Who Has Sexual Thoughts About Men?" It quoted a source saying that sexual attraction "is thought to be primarily biological." However, according to Diamond & Rosky, 2016, sexual attraction "is unquestioningly influenced by environmental factors, given the relatively low concordance of same-sex orientation in identical twins," which is not near 100 percent, but 25 percent, though identical twins share both genes and prenatal environment.
The APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, 2014, notes that "psychoanalytic" factors are involved (Rosario & Schrimshaw), and childhood molestation may be a "potentially causal" factor (Mustanski, Kuper, & Greene). Rigorous studies also indicate absence of a biological parent is a potentially causal factor (Frisch & Hviid, 2006; Francis, 2008; Udry & Chantala, 2005). Ethically, a clinician should consider the presence and treatment of such factors.
Elizabeth Kim, PhD
Garden Grove, California
Christopher Rosik, PhD
Fresno, California
A clearer definition of empathy
In response to your May article "4 Questions for Paul Bloom," Dr. Bloom's idea is a narrower sense of empathy: "If I'm around someone and they're depressed, I get depressed. If they're freaking out, I start to get anxious." That is what family systems therapy would describe as an over-enmeshment between therapist and client. This is dysfunctional.
While Dr. Bloom might have drawn attention to a dysfunctional enmeshment through his narrow definition of empathy, it is not at all helpful to the general reader. It would have been more helpful to first provide a clearer definition of empathy by returning to the works of Carl Rogers, and Truax and Carkhuff. Using Truax and Carkhuff's facilitative scale (1967, 2008), Bloom's definition of empathy would not be considered facilitative; and hence, his assertion that it is not a rational basis to make moral decisions would be correct. Thus, it would have pointed out the crucial distinction between facilitative and non-facilitative empathy.
Hock Seng Thomas Lee, PhD
Singapore
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