Nesreen Jaber

Date of Award

January 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

First Advisor

Rachel Navarro

Abstract

To address the dearth in psychological research and practice in regards to Arab American men, this study examined the lived experiences of seven Levantine (Belad Al Sham) Arab American men with origins in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq. Semi-structured interviews, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), and a Liberation Psychology framework were utilized to explore their definitions of mental health, their experiences of stigma, their experiences with mental health therapy, and their attitudes towards psychology and therapy. A total of seven superordinate themes emerged that highlighted the roles of gendered stigma, cultural incongruence in therapeutic praxis, Eurocentric norms in psychology, and conceptualizations of psychological phenomena that do or do not require therapeutic intervention. Participants described the impacts of stigma, social, and material concerns on their help-seeking behaviors and attitudes. They reported cultural and systemic barriers to help-seeking, and their definitions of mental health highlighted the importance of holistic and communal health. They also spoke to the lack of cultural competence towards this marginalized community, and the need to enhance alternative modes of therapy (e.g., somatic therapies). Results reflect the importance of liberatory frameworks in psychological policy and praxis to combat the marginalization, stigmatization, and pathologization often faced by members of this community, and to increase the utilization of ancestral treatments that involve somatic healing and community-oriented interventions.

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