What Palestine Reveals About British Mental Health Care
An Original Research Report by Dr. Tarek Younis

PART 1: MENTAL HEALTH CARE IS POLITICAL
Part 1 demonstrates how Palestine is explicitly positioned outside
the boundaries of acceptable liberal politics in British mental health.
Disciplinary measures enforce this erasure, underwriting Palestine’s
association with terrorism and antisemitism. As a result, staff, students
and service users self-censor their solidarity out of fear. If they
do speak out, they employ a myriad of “safety strategies” to shield
themselves from allegations of antisemitism and terrorism.

PART 2: MENTAL HEALTH CARE IS RACIST
Part 2 uncovers the racial politics of British mental health care, as
revealed by the genocide. There are two processes of racialisation at
play in the management of Palestine solidarity. First, prevailing counterterrorism structures racialise and securitise Muslims for their political thoughts and behaviours. Second, Zionism racialises Jews as vulnerable to expressions of Palestine solidarity, which are coded as antisemitic.
These racial formations appear most saliently in “anti-racist” spaces,
including those led by ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.’

PART 3: MENTAL HEALTH CARE IS NOT SAFE
Part 3 surfaces the clinical implications when British mental health
care legitimises Zionism and counterterrorism. It explores how these
render mental health spaces unsafe for practitioners and services
users alike. Palestinians and Lebanese, particularly those whose family
members had been killed by Israel, shared disturbing interactions
with Zionist colleagues.

CONCLUSIONS
The legitimacy afforded to counterterrorism and Zionism’s racist logics
are fundamental to the erasure and repression of Palestine solidarity.
A space is not simply safe and anti-racist because it is claimed to be.
Racial formations must be theorised and understood. For a healing
space to become truly anti-racist, especially with regards to Palestine,
it must contend with counterterrorism and Zionism.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Tarek Younis is the Racial Justice Researcher at Healing Justice London and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Middlesex University. His
teaching, writings and clinical work centre on state violence, liberal racism and Islamophobia in mental health, as well as the politics
of psychology.

For an accessible version of this report, including an audio reading, please visit healingjustice.org

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