Sabah Elroubat
City College of New York
ENGL 21002 Writing for the Social Science
Dr. Crystal Rodwell
March 21, 2025

Community Overview

Platform: 𝕏 (formerly Twitter)
Community Name: Psychology Society 𝚿
Slogan: “This is where science meets emotions and knowledge meets awareness, to rise
together towards better mental health”
Created: May 17, 2024
Membership: 38.7k members

Core Beliefs
The Psychology Society is founded on principles that balance scientific understanding with
emotional awareness, along with considering religious principles

The community values:

1. Evidence-based psychological knowledge
2. Mental health awareness and destigmatization
3. Cultural sensitivity within an Arab and Islamic context
4. Community support and collective growth
5. Professional guidance from qualified psychologists
6. Ethical discussions around psychological topics

Community Rules

1. Stay on Topic: Ensure that posts remain relevant to the discussion. General posts are
   not allowed—keep posts focused on psychology.
2. Post Removal Policy: Admins have the right to delete or remove any post that does
   not align with the community’s psychological focus.
3. Leave a Mark: Enjoy, explore, share, engage, and help others. “A person is
   remembered by their impact, so leave a positive one.”
4. Be Creative: The community supports innovators and creatives in the field of
   psychology.
5. Pinned Post Reward: Admins will select standout tweets each week and reward them
   by pinning them in the community.
6. Respect Others: Offensive language, pointless arguments, personal attacks,
   defamation, and unethical behavior are strictly prohibited.
7. No Personal or Commercial Advertisements: We strive for a more flexible and
   seamless community, free from advertising disruptions.
8. Comment on the Original Tweet: Avoid retweeting and instead, comment directly
   on the original tweet to maintain community clarity.
9. Surveys Are Not Allowed: Posting academic or other surveys disrupts the
   community’s objectives.
10. No Inappropriate Content: Any member posting inappropriate content will be
    permanently removed from the community.

Community Demographics and Behavior Patterns

• Cultural Composition: Predominantly Arabic-speaking (approximately 95% are
  Muslim)
  o Gender: mostly women (almost 70%)
  o Age: 15-36
  o Backgrounds, most of them are students or workers, most are not married.
  o More than half of them are from SKA.
• Community Ethos: Conservative, reflecting cultural and religious values
• Language: Standard Arabic
• Interaction Patterns: Despite having 38.7K members, most interactions are directed
  toward moderators (qualified psychologists)
• Activity Level: 500+ daily posts
  o Each post gets at least 20-60 responses, not much likes becayse people usually
  focuses with what is said.
  o Post with most interactions are the moderators post, or a very controversial post
  that discusses gender roles, or talking bad about the family, or that talks about
  something that goes against religion.

• Common Topics: Most discussions center around:
  o Depression
  o Anxiety
  o Social anxiety
  o Stigmatizing
• Content Analysis
  o I examined a sample of 100 (recent posts) I tried to separate them, and I saw
  approximately 65% post are member seeking advice, 20% are sharing personal
  experience 10% is (10 posts) are moderators provides general mental health
  information and 5% are resource sharing.

Questions:
1- Why do discussions predominantly focus on depression, anxiety, and social
anxiety rather than a broader range of psychological topics?

Could this reflect:

• Cultural factors affecting mental health in Arab communities?
  o Yes, the area today is very unstable, there is wars, poverty, and political
  problems there so I would say that this is a BIG reason.
• The particular expertise of moderating psychologists?
  o No
  2- How does the Arab and Islamic cultural context shape the types of
  psychological advice given?
• The Arab and Islamic cultural context significantly shapes psychological
  advice by integrating spiritual practices and religious principles alongside
  conventional approaches. Mental health guidance usually incorporates
  Islamic concepts like sabr (patience) and spiritual practices such as prayer
  and Quranic recitation as coping mechanisms, while respecting collectivist values that prioritize family harmony and community reputation over purely
• individualistic solutions.

• 3- The community gained 38.7K members in less than a year (since May 2024).
• What factors might explain this rapid growth?
• The Psychology Society’s rapid growth to 38.7K members in under a year
  likely stems from filling a crucial gap for Arabic speakers seeking culturallysensitive mental health support. Its success can be attributed to the
  increased mental health awareness post-pandemic, and its unique blend of
  evidence-based psychology with Islamic values. clear community
  guidelines create a safe space for discussing otherwise stigmatized topics,
  no one will know who you are in real life, so you are able to ask freely, + its
  free!

4- How are the community rules enforced, particularly regarding staying on topic
and avoiding inappropriate content?

• By deleting or reporting any post that breaks the rules.
  

• 5- How many moderators manage this community, and what are their
  qualifications?
• 4 only, one of them has 123k followers, the other has 11k, and the 3rd has
  31k, the las one has 9k.
  

• 6- How does this community destigmatize seeking psychological help?
• Framing psychological concepts within Islamic teachings
• Sharing personal recovery stories from respected community members
  (like the moderators themselves)
  
• Connecting mental health to physical health concepts. (a post one said:
  “your soul is a part of your body; it needs caring too.” and got 4.3k likes,
  2k reposts, and 112 comments)