Field Observation Essay

Sabah Elroubat

The City College of New York

ENG 21002: Writing for the Social Sciences

Crystal Rodwell

April 2, 2025

“Ask ChatGPT the following: Can you conduct a session where you ask me a question, then I answer, then you ask me another question and I answer you, with your ultimate goal being to analyze me and my answers according to Carl Jung’s methodology or according to the projective test so that I cannot flatter myself with my answers?”

This was the most famous tweet in this community ever, receiving 12,000 likes, 1,600 retweets, 320 comments, 28,000 bookmarks, and three and a half million views in just a few days!

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Introduction

In an era where awareness of mental health is gaining global momentum, cultural contexts continue to shape how mental health is discussed and addressed. This field essay focuses on the “Psychology Community Ψ”. A community on the social media platform 𝕏 (formerly known as Twitter).

This is a rapidly growing virtual community serving Arab and Muslim users seeking support and information in the field of mental health. This article discusses the research problem of the intersection of cultural identity and mental health discourse in elect, specifically studying how Arab and Islamic cultural contexts affect psychological discussions, help-seeking behaviors, and community formation in digital environments.

The main objectives of this research are: to analyze interaction patterns within the mental health community with a specific cultural background (Arab-Islamic in this case); to study how traditional values integrate with contemporary psychological approaches; and to study how anonymous electronic platforms facilitate mental health discussions in conservative cultures.

The Psychology Cummunity was chosen as a site for monitoring and observation due to its unique position as one of the largest online mental health communities in Arabic, its rapid growth indicating significant unmet needs, and its clear goal of connecting scientific psychology approaches with Islamic cultural values. Monitoring and observation were conducted focusing on community interactions, language use, topic patterns, and interaction dynamics between members and moderators. Data was collected through systematic documentation of posts, responses, and community management practices, focusing on patterns rather than identifiable individual content to maintain ethical standards.

The Psychology Community is part of the “𝕏 Communities” section, it was created on May 17, 2024, and has grown to 38,700 members in less than a year! The community is visually defined by the psychology symbol (Ψ), its display image shows two heads communicating with each other, and is guided by a slogan that embodies its mission: “Here where science meets emotions and knowledge meets awareness, to rise together towards better mental health.” This slogan, prominently displayed at the top of the community page, establishes
the dual focus on scientific knowledge and emotional support, emphasizing collective progress – which represents a value alignment with collective cultural orientations.

The community is managed by ten clear rules that prioritize psychological focus,
respectful interactions, and content quality. These rules are not just suggestions but effectively enforced guidelines, with violations resulting in post removal or member expulsion. The community maintains an organized structure, with four qualified psychologists serving as moderators who have significant influence on guiding discussion and content validity and credibility.

Daily activity is substantial, with members producing more than 500 posts daily. I took one hundred tweets posted in a day, analyzed and categorized them into different lists, and found that: 65% of tweets were members seeking advice and guidance (mostly questions about anxiety, social phobia, and depression), 20% sharing personal experiences, 10% moderators providing important information about mental health, and 5% suggestions for books or useful resources in the field of psychology.

Classical Arabic is the primary language of communication, contributing to linguistic unity, although members likely come from different regional backgrounds throughout the Arab world, from Iraq to Morocco, though it is noted that the vast majority of members are from Saudi Arabia.

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The language used displays distinctive characteristics reflecting the cultural context of the community:

Integration of Religious Terminology: Psychological concepts are often formulated using Islamic terminology and references. Terms such as “patience” are used alongside clinical terms like “depression,” creating hybrid vocabulary that connects traditional and modern approaches to mental health. But they do not completely contradict each other.

Respectful Communication: When addressing moderators, members often avoid using unprofessional language, instead using respectful language that acknowledges professional status. Questions are typically formulated with humility, often beginning with phrases like “If you…” or “I would be grateful for your expertise regarding…”

Disclosure with Privacy Consideration: Members use various linguistic strategies to share personal struggles while maintaining privacy, including using third-person narrative (“I have a friend who…”) when discussing sensitive issues, as stigma remains prevalent in Arab society.

The tone of conversations varies depending on the nature of the interaction, but typically maintains formality, especially in communication between members and moderators. There is a notable absence of colloquial expressions or dialects, suggesting that members consciously elevate their language when discussing psychological topics in this field, perhaps reflecting the seriousness of the topics discussed.

Member Demographics
While precise demographic data is unavailable, through my observation I found that: the community consists mostly of Arabs (about 95% based on language use and cultural references), and most are Muslims, based on religious references in their discussions. The age demographic is difficult to determine, though content references suggest a focus on young adults in their early
twenties to middle-aged adults, likely ranging from university students to professionals.

Gender representation appears relatively balanced based on self-identification (in Arabic, “I, me,” is different for men and woman, so you can recognize the gender easily) in posts, but female interaction is higher than male, with most general posts being made by males and most comments coming from females. Women’s questions are often framed within family contexts or relationship dynamics, while male members often discuss work pressures or existential concerns likely –reflecting traditional gender roles in many Arab societies.

Members typically maintain semi-anonymous profiles within the community, rarely using full real names, and this concealment of identity seems to facilitate more open discussion about topics usually considered stigmatized, creating a safe space where mental health problems, which might make the complainant seem fragile and weak, can be cautiously dealt with.

Social and economic indicators sometimes emerge through references to education levels, professional contexts, or access to mental health resources. Many members appear educated (referring to university experiences or professional contexts), but living in areas with limited mental health resources, or resources may be plentiful but to escape the stigma attached to seeing a psychological specialist, they prefer this electronic community.

Community Rituals and Cultural Practices
Several recurring patterns emerge that function as community rituals:

Friday Reflection Posts: There is a notable increase in spiritually-themed mental health discussions occurring on Friday (the Islamic holy day), with moderators often sharing content that explicitly connects Islamic teachings with mental health. Such as meditation in nature, prayer, or visiting relatives.

Resource Sharing Circles: Moderators periodically initiate dedicated topics for sharing mental health resources, creating opportunities for knowledge exchange.

Scenario Analysing: At least once a week, moderators invent a fictional scenario
discussing a case of someone with a disorder, then ask members to try to provide psychological analysis for this case, and after 14 hours the moderators give the correct analysis.

These practices contribute to maintaining community vitality and achieving balance between (Islamic) culture and psychology.

The psychology community demonstrates prominent patterns reflecting broader social and cultural dynamics in how Arab and Islamic societies deal with mental health. Due to stigma, people have resorted to this electronic space, and the community structure reveals a remarkable adaptation of traditional authority patterns to the anonymous internet environment. The evident respect for moderators maintains cultural respect for expertise, showing that people respect the profession and don’t despise it but avoid it only because of social embarrassment. Meanwhile, the near-complete concealment of identity on the platform contributes to creating safety for discussing sensitive topics.

Commentary
I think that prevalence of anxiety, depression, and social phobia as discussion topics likely reflects multiple intersecting factors. First, these conditions are already globally prevalent, thus statistically likely to be common concerns.

However, their prevalence in this community may also reflect psychological challenges considered most “acceptable” for discussion within cultural frameworks that still stigmatize some mental health conditions. But the more correct explanation might be that the Arab region is going through many problems at this time, widespread wars, many people are dissatisfied with their countries’ politics, and the spread of poverty or increasing unemployment in most countries due to displaced people from countries with war to countries without war, so the displaced take jobs and unemployment increases, leading to more psychological diseases or problems.

What is striking, however, is the absence or minimization of discussion about more stigmatized conditions, such as psychotic disorders or substance abuse problems, indicating that cultural taboos still influence which aspects of mental health can be addressed publicly even in anonymous environments.

I liked the integration of Islamic concepts with psychological terminology represents a sophisticated cultural adaptation strategy. By framing evidence-based psychological concepts within familiar religious and cultural frameworks, the community provides easy entry points for members who might resist “Western” psychological approaches on grounds that they corrupt one’s faith. This integration is not merely superficial but appears to represent a thoughtful
synthesis that elevates both traditional wisdom and contemporary scientific understanding – a balance explicitly stated in the community’s mission.

I found the vertical communication structure intresting (member-to-moderator rather than peer-to-peer) as it reflects collective cultural values where authority and expertise are respected. However, this pattern may inadvertently hinder the development of peer support networks and community resilience. This creates greater pressure on community moderators as the four moderators cannot deeply interact with all daily posts exceeding 500. This observation aligns with Al-Krenawi’s research on help-seeking patterns in Arab communities, where professional help is often preferred over peer support.

At the end, the community’s rapid growth to 38,700 members within one year indicates a pressing need for culturally sensitive mental health resources in Arabic. This is something that we should be working on together with governments or relevant official authorities.

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Citation:
Al-Krenawi, A., Graham, J. R., Al-Bedah, E. A., Kadri, H. M., & Sehwail, M. A. (2009).
Cross-national comparison of Middle Eastern university students: help-seeking
behaviors, attitudes toward helping professionals, and cultural beliefs about mental health problems. Community mental health journal, 45(1), 26–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-008-9175-2

Al-Sayed, A. (2022, October 18). Increasing awareness of mental health needs in Arab populations. Arab Center Washington DC. https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/increasing-awareness-of-mental-health-needs-inarab-populations/

Jaber, R. M., Farroukh, M., Ismail, M., Najda, J., Sobh, H., Hammad, A., & Dalack, G. W.
(2015). Measuring depression and stigma towards depression and mental health
treatment among adolescents in an Arab-American community. International journal of culture and mental health, 8(3), 247–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/17542863.2014.953188

Glass. (2019, June 26). Mental health stigma in the Arab community. Henry Ford
Community College. https://glass.hfcc.edu/2019/06-26/mental-health-stigma-arabcommunity