Psychological Well-Being in the Gulf States

The New Arabia Felix

Justin Thomas

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781137287502
• eBook ISBN: 9781137287519
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

Few regions of the planet have undergone such rapid social transition as the Arabian Gulf States. Psychological Well-Being in the Gulf States explores the implications of these rapid changes in terms of mental health and psychological well-being.

1

The New Arabia Felix

The World Health Organization (2010) describes mental health as ‘a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community’ (p. 1). In spite of this positive definition, most ‘mental health’ research to date has focused on the exploration of what we variously describe as mental illnesses, psychological complaints, or psychiatric disorders. In exploring psychological well-being across the Arabian Gulf States, we are forced – at present – to take a similarly negative and rather narrow view, where psychological well-being is essentially synonymous with the absence of psychological disorder. Regional explorations of more positive psychological concepts, such as savouring and flourishing, are at present in their infancy. However, what we do have are more than three decades’ worth of regional research, exploring a variety of psychological problems across all six Arabian Gulf States.

This book represents an attempted synthesis of this existing research, focusing specifically on what we know about common psychological complaints amongst the citizens of the Arabian Gulf States. Mental health amongst the Gulf’s various expatriate communities is beyond the scope of this work. In the following chapters we will explore eating disorders, substance misuse, depression and anxiety. The focus on mood (depression) and anxiety disorders is driven in part by the generally high prevalence of such complaints. Substance misuse presents a particularly challenging problem within the context of the region’s Islamic heritage and social norms, and for this reason merits attention. Eating disorders are included in light of previous research linking elevated rates of anorexia nervosa and bulimia with social change – rapid social change being a particular hallmark of contemporary Gulf society. All of these varied psychological complaints are explored with a view to examining how the Gulf’s unique culture, social norms and rapid socio-economic transition might influence their prevalence and expression. However, before we can meaningfully explore these issues, it is helpful first to discuss the history and the current sociocultural context of the Arabian Gulf States – The New Arabia Felix.

From ‘Happy Yemen’ to the delights of Dubai

Describing a prosperous region in the southwest of Arabia, the Romans used the qualifying adjective ‘Felix’, meaning happy or blessed. Working its way into English, Arabia Felix became known as a fortunate far-off utopia, referred to as Araby the Blest, or more simply, Happy Arabia (Breton, 1999). Writing in the second century BC, Agatharchides of Cnidos described Arabia Felix as a land of inordinate luxury and wealth, home of precious commodities, inexhaustible goldmines and gem-studded palaces. Its inhabitants, however, he uncharitably described as decadent, lazy and steeped in immorality. Questioning the region’s purported felicity, Pliny the Younger, Roman author and prolific letter writer, suggested that the land’s bounty only served to arouse great covetousness. Certainly, Alexander the Great dreamt of adding these lands to his empire, as did the Roman Emperor Augustus. Neither achieved their prized objective. Pliny also noted with great indignation that it was Roman silver (sesterces) making the inhabitants of Arabia Felix the richest in the world. Continuing his economic lament Pliny wrote:

And by the lowest reckoning India, China, and the Arabian Peninsula take from our empire 100 million sesterces every year – that is the sum our luxuries and our women cost us. (Pliny, Nat. 6.101; 12.84 cited in Breton, 1999)

At the heart of Arabia Felix’s wealth were aromatic plants, particularly the frankincense and myrrh of biblical renown. Widely prized for their use in religious ceremony, medicines and perfumes, there was a great demand for these aromatic substances across the ancient world. Geographically, Arabia Felix was a particularly fertile region in the South West of the Arabian Peninsula, approximating to parts of modern-day Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The region where the Arabian Gulf States would eventually emerge, however, was further north, known to the Greco-Roman world as Arabia Deserta, or Desert Arabia.

It is the Bedouin tribal confederations of Arabia Deserta that have given us most of the ruling families of the modern Arabian Gulf States (with the exception of Oman). From the Al Shammar, Al Qawasim, Al Anaizah and Bani Yas descend the ruling families of modern-day Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE (O’Sullivan, 2008). From an economic standpoint, however, these six states bordering the Arabian Gulf can very legitimately lay claim to the title previously bestowed upon their cousins in the fertile south-western regions. Old Arabia Deserta has become the new Arabia Felix.

Old Arabia Felix was the land of plenty, home to a hyper-abundance of valuable natural resources, just as new Arabia Felix, the present day Arabian Gulf States, are home to 40 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves and 20 per cent of its gas (O’Sullivan, 2008). Couple this with rising energy demands, and it is not surprising that the Gulf’s national oil companies have been described as: ‘… the most profitable corporations on earth’ (O’Sullivan, 2008, p. 4).

The Greco-Roman writers, often relying on dubious secondary sources, made old Arabia Felix the subject of much exaggeration and unfounded derision. Many contemporary commentators are similarly guilty of such practices. Recurring themes within certain quarters of the popular press include stories focused on the ‘outrageous excesses’ of the ‘Gulf’s super rich’. This is not a particularly new stereotype. Popular western characterizations of the Gulf’s inhabitants have tended to centre on ideas of super-wealth, hyper-sensuality and noble savagery. Rudolph Valentino’s portrayal of Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan in the 1921 silent film The Sheik is an early celluloid example of such a depiction. Similar ideas continue to be perpetuated today, through cinema and even within popular music. Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist Common uses Dubai as an exemplar of extreme wealth, singing: ‘… we’re on our paper [money] ’til we get it like Dubai’ (Wilson et al., 2011). Another US recording artist, Busta Rhymes, ultimately apologized for ‘Arab Money’, one of his more controversial recordings. Both the accompanying video to ‘Arab Money’ and the song’s lyrics promote the idea of super-wealth fuelling hedonistic lifestyles, with the song’s hook repetitively proclaiming: ‘We getting Arab money’. This track again also contains an explicit reference to Dubai, the Emirate that has to a large degree become a metonym for the whole region and a synonym for wealth. Rhymes sings: ‘Chest cold diamonds make a nigga wanna cough, In Dubai 20 million on a villa loft’ (Rhymes & Browz, 2008).

In addition to these pop culture caricatures, promoting the idea of a region characterized by hedonistic overconsumption, there have also been a spate of what has come to be termed ‘Dubai-Bashing’ (Huang, 2011). Within the region ‘Dubai-Bashing’ is often viewed as journalists attempting to cash in on Dubai’s growing fame by exposing the dark side of Gulf’s shiniest Emirate. One of the most controversial journalistic critiques in recent years was penned by British journalist Johann Hari (2009), who describes Dubai as an ‘Adult Disneyland’ built on ‘credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery’. The New Arabia Felix, just like its ancient counterpart, occasionally attracts vitriolic derision too.

Islam

Islam has undoubtedly been the single most significant influence on the culture and identity of the indigenous tribes of Arabia. Far more consequential than the impact of oil wealth, Arabia witnessed an earlier period of rapid sociocultural and spiritual transition in the 7th century, the after effects of which continue to profoundly shape Gulf society today.

Deen al-Islam (the Islamic way of life) was revealed to the prophet Muhammad over a period of 23 years and was presented as a continuation, rejuvenation and completion of the previous Abrahamic traditions. Rapidly spreading across the Arabian Peninsula by the middle of the 7th century, Islam threatened, and would soon overthrow, the dominant regional powers, Rome and Persia. The armies of Islam, initially composed of the Bedouin Arabs, would conquer lands stretching from southern France in the west to the Indus valley in the east (Shah, 1971).

Islam united and transformed the tribes of Arabia, prohibiting certain customs which had hitherto been tolerated or even appreciated. One of the more extreme examples was the macabre practice of female infanticide; other more familiar examples include the consumption of intoxicants, gambling and usury. However, it is important to note that most of the customs prevalent in Arabia at the dawn of Islam were not viewed negatively. In his discussion on Islam’s relationship to culture, Abd-Allah (2004) suggests that much of what became the Sunna (the prophetic model, and a primary source of Islamic teaching) comprised acceptable pre-Islamic Arab cultural norms. Islam implicitly endorsed those cultural norms that had not been explicitly rejected. Furthermore, the significance of such cultural-norms is reflected in the importance that Islamic law places on al-‘urf (custom) and al-‘ada (usage). In short, Islam shaped and refined Arab cultural norms; it also lent validity to those pre-Islamic customs that remained.

Islam did not only arrive with prohibitions, there were also obligations and exhortations, and these too have had a lasting impact on the customs and values of the region. These exhortations include explicit religious observances, such as prescribed prayers, fasts and alms giving; they also influenced social intercourse, from the minutiae of situational greetings to major social institutions such as education and marriage.

Islam’s prohibitions, obligations and exhortations are generally based on interpretations of primary sources, the Qur’an and (as previously mentioned) the Qur’an and (as previously mentioned) the Sunna (Ibn-’Ashur, 2006). The plurality of interpretations, and Islam’s traditionally accommodating stance towards indigenous culture, has ensured that Islamic beliefs and practices are far from homogeneous. Major theological distinctions include the Sunni and Shi’a dichotomy, which in itself is a gross homogenizing oversimplification. Others might draw attention to the four traditional schools of Islamic jurisprudence – Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Shafi’I – as a further source of healthy heterogeneity. Similarly, attention could be draw to the differences between relatively modern or revisionist forms of Islam, such as Wahhabism or progressivism. However, despite Islam’s rich heterogeneity, there is much commonality, and Muslims worldwide share many core values and traditions rooted in Islam.

Islam’s Arabian genesis and its revelation in the Arabic language only serve to increase its influence and relevance for the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. It is not uncommon to encounter citizens of the Gulf States who can proudly trace their own lineage to the family of the prophet Muhammad, as well as other notable individuals within Islamic history. Lecturing at a university in the UAE, I have personally experienced students proudly declaring themselves as Bani Hashim (the children of Hashim), a designation rendering them descendants of the family of the Prophet Muhammad.

Islam continues to play a profound role within Arabian Gulf societies, promoting social cohesion, shaping personal identities and influencing world-views. While superficialities, such as traditional dress, might vary from nation to nation, even here the overlap and similarities can often easily be traced to Islam’s lasting, and continued influence upon the tribes of Arabia.

Oil

Over the centuries, conflict, cooperation and commerce have all undoubtedly influenced the lives of the Gulf’s inhabitants. However, since the revelation of Islam, it has to be the discovery and commercial exploitation of oil and gas that has wrought the most dramatic impact. The arrival of oil wealth, combined with the rise of globalization, has undoubtedly ushered in great material benefits, along with fairly radical changes to the lifestyles of the Gulf’s citizens. While this prosperity and socio-economic progress is widely celebrated, it is also frequently lamented, sometimes viewed as presenting a challenge to the region’s traditional Islamic and Arab cultural values. Those working in the field of mental health within the region commonly view the rapidity of the transition as being implicated in the perceived rise of numerous social and psychological problems. The psychological/psychiatric research literature in the region is replete with references to a perceived tension between what is usually termed ‘traditionality’ and the modern lifestyles made increasingly accessible by oil wealth and globalization. For example, Ghubash et al. (2001) write:

The tension between material advancement and social instability inevitably has consequences for the psychological wellbeing of the inhabitants of developing countries. One of the greatest catalysts of modernization is the exploitation of oil resources and some of the most striking examples of rapid social change come from countries that have new oil riches, for instance in the Gulf region. (p. 565)

Expressing a similar view with particular reference to the development of psychological problems in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Amir (2001) suggests:

Both countries experienced an unprecedented economic boom in the early 1970s as a result of the increase in the price of oil that followed the Arab-Israeli war. Individual incomes and standards of living rose drastically. Modernization processes, which would normally be expected to take decades, were accomplished in a few years. As a result, people had to adapt swiftly to new realities. It is suggested that the need for quick and successful adjustments that the new realities introduced into the lives of many individuals in these two countries were more than some individuals could handle. (p. 520)

With reference to one of the smallest of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) member states, Qatar, Al-Thani & Moore (2012) write

In Qatar, as elsewhere in the region, increased wealth has meant that family structures have changed: more women are now likely to work outside the home; there has been an influx of foreign workers and Western, particularly U.S., influences have permeated the culture. Another change, partly in response to the increased stress and confusion brought about by rapid societal change, is that psychological services have been established. (p. 192)

The tensions of transition

One of the key challenges for the contemporary Gulf States is how to integrate core values such as religion and family with the effects of globalization (Mourtada-Sabbah et al., 2008). Ideas of a tension between traditional values and modernity are a central and recurrent theme in most works discussing contemporary Arabian Gulf societies. Mourtada-Sabbah et al. (2008) suggest that tensions arising from the profound societal shifts are managed by a form of compartmentalization, as though individuals attempt to slip in and out of character as the dictates of the situation demand, perhaps speaking Arabic and living Bedouin values at home, but speaking English and adopting globalized world-views in the workplace. Furthermore, the rapidity of the changes that have beset the region has magnified the idea of a generation gap; parents and grandparents may remember the pre-oil era while the youth do not: although born into the same lands they inhabit different worlds. It has been suggested that youngsters in Abu Dhabi and New York have more in common with each other than they do with their grandparents. There are almost two unrecognizable worlds: the post-oil era with its technology, luxury and affluence, and the pre-oil era with its pearls and pastoralism, privation and poverty.

The typical narrative concerning the pre-oil era is one of harsh living standards, and relative isolation from the outside world. The general themes of transition and progress are repetitively communicated in the titles of books dealing with this aspect of the region: From Rags to Riches, From Pearls to Oil and Sand to Silicon to cite just three.

In From Rag to Riches, Mohammed Al Fahim, a citizen of the UAE, describes 1950s life in the UAE (the Trucial states) as being unchanged for centuries. He describes a situation where camels are the primary mode of long-distance transport, where brackish water is drawn from wells, and all but the rulers live in arish, a type of basic accommodation fashioned from date-palm branches (Al-Fahim, 1995). This is a pre-oil era characterized by extreme privation and daily hardship, an existence Al-Fahim describes as precarious, suggesting, ‘… our lives hung in the balance almost daily’ (p. 15). Despite the relative pre-oil era poverty, some of the older Gulf inhabitants are also nostalgic for aspects of these simpler, more frugal times. In her book Emirati Women, UAE-based anthropologist Jane Bristol-Rhys details discussions with older Emirati women, with the latter commenting on the ills of urbanization, lamenting the loss of community and the ability to walk in the streets as they once did (Bristol-Rhys, 2010). In a similar vein, but this time with reference to older Bahraini citizens, Holes (2005) suggests that when comparing the present to the past a general thematic response is: ‘zad il-kher u-qallat il-anasa, life is materially better now, but it isn’t so much fun’ (p. 56).

The changes in the Arabian Gulf region over past 40 years have been profound and wide-ranging, affecting most aspects of life from education to national identity. Many of these changes have important implications for the psychological well-bei...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 The New Arabia Felix
• 2 Eating Disorders
• 3 Substance-Related Disorders (Addiction)
• 4 Mood Disorders: Melancholy, Mania and Modernity
• 5 Anxiety Disorders
• 6 Intervention
• References
• Index