Government Warning to Psychologists: Discussion of ‘Honor Killings’ Prohibited!

The Organization of Psychologists and the Welfare Organization have launched a new wave of pressure on psychologists, family counselors, and psychotherapists.

Psychologists and counselors who are active in cyberspace, if they use hashtags such as jealousy, honor, patriarchy, honor killing, and femicide, are warned by the Welfare Organization and the Organization of Psychologists.

In some cases, their work licenses have even been revoked due to addressing this issue.

This is the voice and narrative of psychology from Iran, which of course does not have the security and freedom to speak to us with its own name and even voice. We have altered his voice:

“Following Romina’s murder, when a session was held, welfare officials were also present to examine the dimensions of this issue. When I brought up that parents should take parenting workshops before having children or should hold workshops on familiarizing children with sexual issues, I was prevented from continuing to speak.

Psychologists who talk about issues that happen in Iran, such as honor killings, child marriage, and the like, or post content with these themes and [emphasize] that jealousy and controlling behavior are not signs of mental health and are signs of a disease, and regard jealousy as a disease, are faced with warnings from the Welfare Organization or the Organization of Psychologists.

To the point that last week we witnessed one of the profiles of well-educated psychologists in our country being closed because of raising this very issue, and their clinic license was also revoked.

Even among my colleagues, some who had live sessions with feminist women who are active on Instagram and talk about issues such as jealousy and honor or gender equality, received warnings because of collaborating with feminist women and going live with them, and no longer do this work, and these issues have caused educated and compassionate therapists to gradually distance themselves from therapeutic work, and the way for yellow and unscientific psychology in Iran has been opened.”

This means not only are murder and femicide happening in Iran, not only have dozens of cases of murders of women and girls with scythes and axes and their beheading in families accumulated over all these years, not only have the lives of many like Romina, Ria, Fatima, Sarina, and dozens of other girls and women gone up in smoke and into thin air, not only is all this happening, but talking about these tragedies is also prohibited.

What are the key words in all these cases? Honor, jealousy, the reputation of family men, fanaticism, and backward traditions.

The tragic murder of Romina Ashrafi once again placed all these keywords before Iranian society to think about and perhaps doubt their value.

This is certainly not welcomed by the Iranian government. The psychologist guest of this week’s magazine says: “Authentic psychology and psychoanalysis in Iran faces government opposition.”

Opposition that government institutions pursue on social networks and deal with it.

This psychologist continues:

“This strictness is not just in the treatment room. They cannot even freely talk on their own virtual pages and social networks about issues that are happening in Iran, such as honor killings, child marriage, and many other issues. Because if they talk, they face warnings from the Welfare Organization or the Organization of Psychologists.

To the point that last week we witnessed one of Iran’s best psychologists who has a very popular page and is truly compassionate and has the knowledge, having their employment license completely revoked because they talked about these issues and becoming unemployed.”

The government, through its institutions and subordinate organizations, not only tries to cover up issues including so-called honor killings or femicide, but even demands that psychologists and counselors whose job is to help resolve crises of individuals and society and teach problem-solving skills “without violence and resort to concepts such as jealousy and honor” should follow the government’s political and religious ideology rather than theories of psychological science; like what happens every day in Islamic Republic Radio and Television in family and counseling programs.

The psychologist, our guest from Tehran, says:

“In Iranian television programs, we see psychologists who have no knowledge or education, talking about how a child or offspring should respect their parents in all cases because Islam has said so, that in all cases one must maintain respect for parents. But this is in contradiction with what is discussed in psychology.

Psychoanalysis says that children who have been harmed have suffered the most harm from their parents. This has caused that part of psychologists who are truly compassionate and truly care about these issues to gradually distance themselves from therapy, and the way for promoting yellow psychology and unscientific psychology in Iran has been very much opened.”

Saeed Peyvandi, a sociologist in the field of education, analyzes this situation in contradiction with a scientific approach to changing and complex issues of society:

“When we talk about science, for example the science of psychology, it requires that in line with scientific advances and progress made in the field of research, we can gradually arrive at more accurate understanding or new solutions for dealing with social harms and problems. Whereas when our starting point is, for example, an ideology or a religion and its principles, they are fixed and do not change over time.

Therefore, the problem that arises is that if we want to deal with the subject scientifically, we necessarily must question these religious and ideological principles that govern a culture or way of thinking and deliberate about them. And since this possibility does not arise, in practice our ideology puts us in a deadlock in dealing with social harms.”

Mr. Peyvandi describes these conditions as an ideological deadlock; a deadlock in which science cannot provide solutions for society’s tensions and crises:

“If we pressure our psychologists and specialists who should counsel families in the field of man-woman relationships, jealousy, and male behaviors that are criticized today, and place them in this ideological and religious deadlock, it can be said we will never reach a solution.

Perhaps two or three hundred years ago we did not have such a problem in society, but today the main problem in Iranian society and all societies in the world is that there has emerged a very fundamental gap between traditional outlook and social realities, and sciences such as psychology, sociology, or social psychology try through modern reading of these harms to be able to find a solution. If they are prevented and such reading is taken from them, we will in fact be in a situation where there will be no solution for the problems.”

The tensions and crises of a society that is shedding its skin and transitioning from one era to another; women fighting for their rights, independence, and individuality, rebellious and dissatisfied youth, increased divorce rates, family crises, inequalities, a troubled economy, and many other such issues, which perhaps in a free society could be freely discussed, examined, and resolved in counseling and therapy offices, relieving the heavy burden of them from society’s shoulders; a possibility that in Iran, the ideological approach to the science of psychology stands like a barrier against.

Source: Radio Farda