Terrorism is a social problem, not a mental health or criminal problem

Embargoed until Wednesday, July 02, 2008

There is no evidence that young terrorists are mentally ill, a leading authority on terrorism claimed today (Wednesday, 2 July) at the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Professor Scott Atran, research director in anthropology at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris and presidential scholar in sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, also said there was no evidence that terrorists have personality disorders, are brainwashed by radical imams in mosques or Islamic religious schools (madrassahs), or enticed by the thought of scores of virgins waiting in heaven.

Professor Atran said radicalism was a social problem, rather than a mental health or criminal problem, and that young militants need superheroes to lead them away from the paths of jihad and terrorism.

Annual Meeting delegates heard that young terrorists were bound together by thick ties of friendship and family. Though morally motivated, those involved in terrorist attacks, such as the Madrid and Bali bombings, were not indoctrinated.

Professor Atran said: “There are no cells, let alone sleeper cells, and no brainwashing. If someone wanted to get involved in a bombing attack on the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven, he’d be thrown out. That is a sexual fantasy of Western society. Most terrorists are married with several children.”

Militant terrorism is born in the streets, schools, cafes and barber shops, said Professor Atran. The men played football together and married into their friends’ families. Rather than plotting in cells, plans for bombings were hatched at weddings and festivals, he said.

They link up over the internet, a perfect medium for terrorism. “Men bond very fast over the internet,” said Prof Atran. “It dispenses with the need to be the alpha male you get when two men meet in person. Women, too, can get more easily involved over the internet.”

Professor Atran looked at major recent terrorist attacks and found there a number of common factors: the terrorist had formed strong friendships in a training camp, they were often linked by marriage (Professor Atran found over 30 marriages weaved through 10 major attacks), and that there were strong family relationships. “If you want to crack jihadi groups, find out what they eat, who their sisters are, where they live, what they wear,” he said.

“It’s about fairly flat, fluid and informal networks of friends, families, neighbours, schoolmates, workmates and soccer buddies. They self-radicalise in groups, sometimes triggered by encounters with people who have been to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they go looking for Al Qaeda, increasingly in cyberspace. Radicalisation is mostly about a social process, a path to violence, not ideas.”

Lord Alderdice, a psychotherapist and Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, also spoke at the Annual Meeting and agreed that tackling terrorism was a public health and social issue, rather than a strictly criminal or military one.

Lord Alderdice said: “There is no evidence that these people are mentally ill, or have individual psychopathies. It’s a very important message to give to the people who are not psychiatrists who believe that that is the problem. They believe that religious fundamentalism is the problem, that it is growing and that there is an increase in fundamentalist imams, and that they in turn radicalise a certain percentage of people. The solution would therefore be to use moderate imams to dampen down the fundamentalists and reduce radicalism.

“But this is a waste of time and counter-productive. The worst thing we can do is to give these young people moderate middle-aged men to tell them that they shouldn’t do it.”

Professor Atran agreed, saying that young militants needed ‘superheroes’, such as those traditionally found in comic books and film, who could be positive role models.

Professor Atran concluded: “How you change youth culture is a difficult and fickle affair. But role models or small changes often have big effects on attitude and fashions, such as gangsta culture and skateboarding. Democratic candidate Barack Obama was listed by young children in the streets of north Africa as a new superhero. When they see him, they see the face of diversity. His election as president would itself be a symbol.”

References:

Royal College of Psychiatrists' Annual Meeting, Imperial College London, 1 - 4 July 2008