“HOW CAN PSYCHOLOGY BE USED TO PREVENT EXTREMIST VIOLENCE?
MAKING THE CASE FOR CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY IN ADDRESSING RADICALISATION IN THE UK GOVERNMENT’S COUNTER TERRORISM STRATEGY”

 

by Dr. Saima Löfgren, BSc(Hons), MSc, DClinPsy,
Clinical Psychologist, Visiting Lecturer at the Universities of Nottingham and Leicester, UK

 

ABSTRACT

The wave of Islamic State-linked terrorism experienced in the West over the past few years has rekindled debates surrounding mental illness and terrorist engagement. Questions such as ‘how prevalent is mental illness among terrorists?’ and ‘what relationship does mental illness have with radicalisation?’ are posed. However, in the absence of credible evidence in most cases, due to a lack of formal diagnosis or mental health intervention, psychological difficulties are often implied and assumed. As such, the strange and erratic behaviour in an individual’s pathway to radicalisation is assumed to be linked to mental health issues.
This paper does not advocate that the role of clinical psychologists should be to confirm evidence that mental illness is a driver of radicalisation. Instead, within research and practitioner communities, psychologists can offer a more nuanced formulation of an individual’s vulnerabilities and grievance structure, drawing together psychological and situational drivers.
The point of this paper is to highlight that unpicking radicalisation is no different to using a formulation to understand the underpinnings of a mental health difficulty. For example, just as depression is understood as the outcome of a complex array of interwoven experiences and factors, radicalisation can be viewed as the outcome of a myriad of push/pull factors. It follows, therefore, that the identification and presentation of radicalisation will differ across individuals and groups, just as it would for depression. This variability highlights the issues of establishing a psychological profile of terrorists and the application of risk assessment tools within radicalisation.
The addition of an overarching ideology, however, leads practitioners to presume the work lies outside of their expertise. The narrative of ideology is disseminated in the counter terrorism strategy of the UK Government, which conceptualises radicalisation as an issue of ideology. Associated interventions employ Islamic theologians as mentors, to engage in dialogue those at ‘risk of radicalisation’, in order to challenge the ‘hardcore false interpretations of Islam’, associated with extremist thinking. Thus focusing on the beliefs of the radicalised rather than the process through which the individual becomes radicalised.
The use of religious mentors raises a number of challenges, including the lack of valid and evaluated training and supervision, and the lack of empirical strength in the notion that religious ideology causes radicalisation. This is not to say that religious beliefs have no part within the radicalisation process, but rather it is too simple (and unfounded) to suggest that theoretical debate based on subjective re-interpretation by mentors, is an empirically supported intervention. The development of extremist thinking is usually far more complex and dynamic than one single factor can explain, be it mental illness, Islamist ideology, or socio-political grievances. It is widely accepted that the psychological impact of inequality and exclusion on the construction of identity, in the context of globalised communities, are the main factors leading individuals to join extremist networks.
An empirically grounded psychological formulation would allow us to look at the interplay of such factors, including marginalisation, discrimination and religious beliefs. Instead of seeking an intervention based only on ideology, and by moving away from profiles to formulation, the involvement of psychologists can help to develop a greater nuance and individuality in interventions to prevent and counter violent extremism. In talking about by work in this field, this paper draws on case studies to demonstrate the profession’s relevance in counter-extremism and counterterrorism efforts.

 

BIOGRAPHY

Saima Löfgren is a Clinical Psychologist in Adult Mental Health with a long-standing special interest in refugees and asylum seekers. She has worked in NGO, government and private sector roles, developing innovative approaches to tackle problems in the delivery of mental healthcare to this client group.
She is a visiting lecturer at the Universities of Nottingham and Leicester where she teaches on Cultural Competency, Discourse Analysis and the Philosophy of Science. She contributes to the University of Leicester Criminology course, teaching on psychological approaches to de-radicalisation.
Saima currently works for the UK Government’s counter terrorism strategy, Prevent, working individually with Islamist extremists and those at risk of radicalisation. She utilises a psychologically informed approach to explore radicalisation as a process, from the perspective of those radicalised. In this way she is contributing to a developing evidence base, using case studies to demonstrate a variety of push and pull factors. Her approach is in contrast to the emphasis on ideology within the UK Prevent strategy.
Saima has participated in a number of international conferences and events, speaking and presenting research to government, practitioner and civil society audiences around the world. These include the US Department for Homeland Security; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; the Australian Federal Police and Attorney General’s Department; the State Government of Victoria, Australia; and the Metropolitan Police in the UK.