{"id":267341,"date":"2025-08-07T16:27:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T13:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/real-sciences.com\/?p=267341"},"modified":"2025-10-22T12:46:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T09:46:05","slug":"the-madness-choice-the-first-arab-psychological-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/real-sciences.com\/en\/science-and-society\/the-madness-choice-the-first-arab-psychological-epic\/","title":{"rendered":"To Choose Madness: The First Arab Psychological Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the dark depths of childhood and upbringing in the Arab world, To Choose Madness\u00a0traces the unfortunate path of a \u201csane\u201d person through that turmoil. Parental violence \u2014 where a belt or a whip may do more damage than the secret prisons of authoritarian Arab regimes \u2014 is at the heart of this story.<\/strong> The primary oppressive system leads Hatim bin Abdullah, the fictional Saudi protagonist of the novel, to learn lying, experience panic attacks, anxiety, major depression, poor career choices, deep shame, and ultimately to choose madness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But what does it mean to choose madness? Can we write scientifically about \u201cmadness\u201d? In truth, the author is not a typical writer \u2014 he is a psychiatrist who guides us through the most intricate details of psychiatric medications and addiction, in a way only a doctor and a writer can. Ramzi Al-Hakami, our colleague at Real Sciences<\/em>, writes the first Arab psychological epic, and I am confident in calling it that \u2014 just as I am confident in the scientific accuracy of its threads and their necessity for the Arab reality and for Arab psychological culture.<\/p>\n

A Wounded Childhood<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hatim bin Abdullah documents his life in the form of a suicide letter. While most people\u2019s lives are recorded by their achievements or moments of glory, Hatim describes his life as a series of sins. The first \u201csin\u201d was lying \u2014 but why? Because Hatim was sexually harassed by a schoolmate. His father’s response was to whip him until he urinated on himself, leaving behind eternal terror that would later manifest in multiple psychological syndromes \u2014 compounded by the dozens of times his father repeated such brutality.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to find studies in the Arab world that cover this kind of sexual abuse, but there are many studies on parental violence, often reaching shocking levels \u2014 and the news has covered stories like this across the Arab world: the child who skips school to hide the torture marks from the teacher.<\/p>\n

Ramzi takes us through the life of someone whose story might appear briefly in the news \u2014 someone we feel disturbed hearing about \u2014 but we never think about the rest of their life<\/strong>. There are many such people around us.<\/p>\n

Hatim\u2019s father, Abdullah, says to him years later, after several collapses in Hatim\u2019s life: “I was hard on you because I love you, to make you the best man you could be.”<\/em> How often we\u2019ve heard this tragic narrative?<\/p>\n

In many domestic violence stories I’ve heard personally, the child ends up urinating or defecating involuntarily after a beating with a belt or electrical wires \u2014 exactly like what happens in prisons. Parents who say things like this were often victims themselves \u2014 they believe they’re raising a “real man,” or “zalme” as expressed in Iraqi and Syrian dialects. Those who think they\u2019ve survived their own trauma often recreate it for their children. The deliberate transmission of psychological trauma feels almost like genetic or memetic inheritance: studies show that parents who experienced childhood violence are statistically more likely to inflict it on their own kids.<\/p>\n

Did all these parents really want their children to become better people \u2014 or \u201creal men\u201d? Many children don\u2019t survive such extreme cruelty \u2014 Hatim bin Abdullah was one of them.<\/p>\n

Not all of Hatim\u2019s behaviors stem from his abuse, or from the attempted rape, or from a society that offered no sense of safety (Hatim grew up in a poor village in the southwest of Saudi Arabia). One of his “sins” was enacting historical Islamic battles alone \u2014 role-playing. But this innocent act led to another torture session by his father. (I use prison terminology deliberately \u2014 every parent should see these acts for what they really are.)<\/p>\n

Does role-playing or talking to oneself deserve that? Years ago, Ramzi wrote an article defending self-talk as a natural and healthy behavior. Role-playing is also a natural part of childhood development. Yet the aggressive response to such behavior \u2014 often triggered by neighbors reporting to the parents \u2014 reflects a traditional Arab system that makes us question why we only blame state security agencies.<\/p>\n

To Choose Madness<\/em> places the blame on the broader, more pervasive structure. Have you, as a reader, ever suffered from these \u201csecurity reports\u201d by nosy neighbors or relatives?<\/p>\n

Hatim\u2019s life is defined by his \u201csins\u201d and the psychological crushing he endured \u2014 like the trauma after re-enacting the Battle of Uhud alone in his village. These sins are not fleeting guilt; they are deep-rooted shame. For Hatim \u2014 and many like him \u2014 this shame is eternal. Shame about sex, about masturbation, about entirely normal things.<\/p>\n

The Psychological Journey<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The book offers a detailed account of panic attacks, anxiety, depression, and more \u2014 including physical symptoms, worldview shifts, emotional states, and behaviors. This is not from an average writer, but a psychiatrist<\/strong> who has listened to thousands of patients and brings both personal experience and vast knowledge.<\/p>\n

In addition to his efforts in communicating science to Arabic readers (e.g., Real Sciences<\/em>), Ramzi explores recurring patterns in the lives of those with psychological crises \u2014 such as being offered religious advice instead of real help. The book portrays Hatim\u2019s deep immersion in religion \u2014 becoming a “mutawa” (pious man) for a period \u2014 not as a direct result of upbringing, but as part of his journey. Some studies suggest a correlation between trauma and increased religiosity, but the relationship remains inconclusive.<\/p>\n

Hatim is even subjected to ruqyah<\/strong> (Islamic spiritual healing) by his family as a \u201ccure\u201d for his madness, which is really just suppressed rage toward his arrogant father:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe sheikh rolled up his sleeves and began to touch me while reciting Quranic verses. I said nothing. My eyelids didn\u2019t even flicker. The strangest thing was that my father was the only one who reacted \u2014 he collapsed to the ground, as if possessed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The book touches on little-known anxiety symptoms – in the Arab world at least – like teeth grinding during sleep, which becomes so loud that it drives people away from Hatim. It discusses unbearable fear while asleep, constant fatigue, muscle aches, dry mouth, and nighttime thirst. Don\u2019t you know someone who suffers like this?<\/p>\n

Hatim also behaves erratically in school, such as throwing his pen at a teacher during a debate about a subject in Arabic grammars. This resonates with how we often see extreme behavior \u2014 in school, politics, or sectarian debates. Is this connected to early trauma? Or to the psychological structure it built \u2014 a complex blend that cannot be reduced to mere \u201cdepression\u201d or \u201canxiety\u201d?<\/p>\n

The book offers a positive portrayal of psychiatry and proper mental health interventions. It discusses medications \u2014 Cipralex for anxiety and Prozac for depression \u2014 which help Hatim immensely. I haven\u2019t seen a more nuanced depiction of psychiatric medications \u2014 their side effects, benefits, and how their impact unfolds \u2014 than in Ramzi Al-Hakami\u2019s elegant, scientific prose.<\/p>\n

The lifelong presentation of Hatim\u2019s condition reflects the complexity of psychological issues, showing that medication and therapy must be contextualized properly. Psychiatry can help, but healing is not like curing a headache \u2014 it\u2019s not like any other medical field. Hatim doesn’t necessarily take a positive path, but we see that the psychiatrist was perhaps the only positive person in his life. Hatim tells his doctor:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI realized I had the right to hear and see, rather than spending my life trying to re-enact every whip my father laid across my back. In that moment, I understood that the terror I lived \u2014 my heartbeat, my breathlessness, my numb limbs, my back pain without injury or disease \u2014 meant that I was still stuck in the scene of Hatim the child, shielding himself with tiny hands from a father who could only deal with his complexes by devouring one of his children like a frightened pig.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Before such a text, we don\u2019t need scientific studies to validate everything \u2014 the human experience itself is the evidence. To quote from our book in Real Sciences Psychotherapy: How We Face Psychological Suffering Through Science<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cPeople with four adverse childhood experiences are four times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and three times more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. Those with six experiences in the U.S. may die 20 years earlier on average. They’re also three times more likely to never feel relaxed and six times more likely to never feel optimistic. Addiction rates to cocaine and heroin also skyrocket compared to non-traumatized individuals.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Addiction: The Dilemma of Our Time<\/h2>\n

The book\u2019s next phase deals with addiction. For those unfamiliar with qat, this book introduces the plant in detail \u2014 common in Yemen and parts of Saudi Arabia like Jazan, where the story is set. The book vividly captures the stages of its effect \u2014 from euphoria to intellectual elevation. It may seem like the book glorifies qat, but the reader eventually grasps the bitterness of the experience, much like with other drugs.<\/p>\n

The book also explores the black market for psychiatric meds, Hatim\u2019s break from his doctor, and experimentation with other psychoactives like hashish. Some of the best philosophical or humorous dialogues happen during qat sessions, adding depth and reality to the experience.<\/p>\n

It also illustrates how addiction affects relationships, coping with loss, and financial crises. Addiction, along with its psychological and physical impacts, doesn\u2019t necessarily mark the end \u2014 but it adds significant layers to the overall experience.<\/p>\n

Madness<\/h2>\n

In popular culture, \u201cmadness\u201d is tied to ignorance about mental health \u2014 where people divide others into the \u201csane\u201d and the \u201cmad.\u201d So how does a psychiatrist choose to title a book To Choose Madness<\/em>? It\u2019s not just a title \u2014 it\u2019s a challenge.<\/p>\n

What is madness? The book references the Rosenhan experiment, where actors feign mental illness and are admitted to psychiatric institutions. The book stands up for psychiatry, and for the mad. In a scene, trainee doctors label someone with various disorders, but the senior psychiatrist corrects them \u2014 the man isn\u2019t mentally ill. Even doctors can fall into the trap of using primitive labels \u2014 it takes an experienced practitioner to see clearly. Will we find such doctors in the Arab world? One hopes so.<\/p>\n

The book also explores the legal and social treatment of madness \u2014 how people can be treated more leniently, harshly, or neglected simply because they \u201clook\u201d mad \u2014 and how laws can overlook or dismiss actions and words based on perceived mental state.<\/p>\n

Language<\/h2>\n

The book dives deeply into language\u2019s role in perception and mental health. Hatim studies language, but his engagement with it goes far beyond academia. Like many, he was forced by his father to study medicine \u2014 but chose language instead, a rebellion against tyranny and a pursuit of the self. The taxi driver taking him to college is the final echo of the societal voice that expects every smart student to study medicine.<\/p>\n

The dialogues explore not just abstract language, but Arabic \u2014 in jokes, flirtation, trauma, therapy, and qat sessions.<\/p>\n

Language becomes a living being, described poetically and philosophically. For example:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI became addicted to reading philosophy when language no longer had anything to say to me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\u201cMy grief is savage, pre-linguistic \u2014 predating language by millions of years.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The author captures mental experiences that language cannot reach, echoing thinkers like Daniel Dennett, who said that not all mental processes need to have language. I quote:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cBut the limitations of language in portraying reality pose a challenge to the speaker when trying to describe a man slitting his own throat in a way that avoids passive voice. One might say: \u2018He slit his body or his throat, so he killed himself,\u2019 or \u2018He self-died (\u0627\u0633\u062a\u0645\u0627\u062a?)\u2019 \u2014 but none of this conveys the raw truth. We lack a verb that captures the full essence of suicide without relying on metaphor or grammatical accommodation. Even Latin (suicide = sui + cide) shares this problem. According to the author\u2019s research, no language in the world has a direct verb for suicide that bypasses this limitation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I decided to leave the discussion on language and mental health from this book to another article.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

The book gives fair attention to all factors shaping a difficult life. Family is the first \u2014 Hatim says to his father in their only real conversation: \u201cMy illness is my family issues,\u201d<\/em> in response to his father\u2019s suggestion to set those issues aside and focus on his problem.<\/p>\n

This book is not a case file of mental disorders. It\u2019s a profound exploration of the human experience \u2014 love, psychoactive substances, psychiatric medication, friendship, loss, and philosophical ecstasy.<\/p>\n

Family, friends, society, religion, medicine, language \u2014 and above all, personal choices \u2014 each plays a role in Hatim\u2019s journey and fate. The book deserves to be read not just as a dose of philosophical pleasure, but as a rich blend of culture and science that one may not find elsewhere \u2014 at least not in Arabic.<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0Greene, Carolyn A., et al. \u201cIntergenerational effects of childhood maltreatment: A systematic review of the parenting practices of adult survivors of childhood abuse, neglect, and violence.\u201d Clinical psychology review 80 (2020): 101891.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Tekinbas, Katie Salen, and Eric Zimmerman.\u00a0Rules of play: Game design fundamentals<\/em>. MIT press, 2003.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0Trevino, Kelly M., and Kenneth L. Pargament. \u201cReligious coping with terrorism and natural disaster.\u201d Southern medical journal 100.9 (2007): 946-947.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0\u0639\u0645\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0631\u064a\u0648\u0627\u0646\u064a\u060c\u00a0\u0627\u0644\u0639\u0644\u0627\u062c \u0627\u0644\u0646\u0641\u0633\u064a: \u0643\u064a\u0641 \u0646\u0648\u0627\u062c\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0639\u0627\u0646\u0627\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0646\u0641\u0633\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0628\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0644\u0645<\/a>\u060c \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0644\u0648\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0642\u064a\u0642\u064a\u0629\u060c \u0644\u0646\u062f\u0646\u060c \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0645\u0644\u0643\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062a\u062d\u062f\u0629<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0\u0643\u062a\u0627\u0628 \u0634\u0631\u062d \u0627\u0644\u0648\u0639\u064a \u0644\u062f\u0627\u0646\u064a\u064a\u0644 \u062f\u064a\u0646\u064a\u062a: \u0642\u0631\u0627\u0621\u0629 \u0641\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0641\u0635\u0648\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0648\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0643\u062a\u0627\u0628<\/a>\u060c \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0644\u0648\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0642\u064a\u0642\u064a\u0629<\/p>\n

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From the dark depths of childhood and upbringing in the Arab world, To Choose Madness\u00a0traces the unfortunate path of a \u201csane\u201d person through that turmoil. Parental violence \u2014 where a belt or a whip may do more damage than the secret prisons of authoritarian Arab regimes \u2014 is at the heart of this story. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":267339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5254,5251],"tags":[],"authorship_type":[5108],"class_list":["post-267341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-science-and-society","authorship_type-5108"],"yoast_head":"\nTo Choose Madness: The First Arab Psychological Epic - Real Sciences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/real-sciences.com\/en\/science-and-society\/the-madness-choice-the-first-arab-psychological-epic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Choose Madness: The First Arab Psychological Epic - Real Sciences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the dark depths of childhood and upbringing in the Arab world, To Choose Madness\u00a0traces the unfortunate path of a \u201csane\u201d person through that turmoil. Parental violence \u2014 where a belt or a whip may do more damage than the secret prisons of authoritarian Arab regimes \u2014 is at the heart of this story. 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