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Mental Health With Maliha Hi everyone, my name is Maliha, a licensed therapist, who loves sharing information about mental hea

The “Cornell 7” conversation is bigger than seven men.A former Cornell student alleges that seven fraternity members sex...
10/01/2026

The “Cornell 7” conversation is bigger than seven men.

A former Cornell student alleges that seven fraternity members sexually assaulted her in 2024. But a message inviting 57 men was posted in the fraternity Snapchat group. The remaining men did nothing. The case raises an important question about everyone around harm, not only those committing it.

What are we teaching our children to do when the person causing harm is their friend, brother, elder, teacher, or someone whose acceptance they don't want to lose?

In many South Asian, SWANA and Muslim families, we teach girls extensively about staying safe. But preventing sexual violence cannot rest on girls learning how to avoid it.

We have to teach boys about consent, power, accountability, and what to do when other boys and men cause harm.

We also have to examine how patriarchy and rigid hierarchies can turn otherwise meaningful values, such as family loyalty, respect for elders, privacy, community belonging, into pressure to remain silent.

We aren't only raising children who shouldn't cause harm. We're raising children who need to recognize it and be willing to stand against it, even when they're the only one doing so.

𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 Maliha Khan • LPC • South Asian Muslim Therapist for culturally responsive conversations about family, identity & mental health, and 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐄 this with another parent.

🛋 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐗 👉 Virtual therapy for South Asian, SWANA (Middle Eastern & North African) & Muslims. 🔗 Book a free 15-min consult through the link in my bio.

Anti-Muslim hate did not begin on 9/11 & it did not end after it.For many Muslim, SWANA/MENA, and South Asian communitie...
09/22/2026

Anti-Muslim hate did not begin on 9/11 & it did not end after it.

For many Muslim, SWANA/MENA, and South Asian communities, experiences of discrimination and dehumanization existed before 9/11, intensified in its aftermath, and continue to shape our lives today.

Ongoing anti-Muslim hate continues to reinforce the idea that staying small, being careful and proving your belonging and acceptability is safer. These patterns can take many forms. They can shape how we express our identities, whether we speak up in the face of harm, how we approach authority and even how we understand achievement, worth and belonging.

Safety does not look the same for everyone. Visibility, race, gender, immigration history, class, disability, appearance, location, etc. can shape what feels safe in a particular environment.

Understanding these patterns can help us recognize what strategies we are responding to, what they continue to protect us from and whether there is room for other ways of moving through the world.

What has helped you cope with Anti-Muslim hate?

💬 𝗖𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓: Want to explore these themes more deeply? Comment ‘NEWSLETTER’ and I’ll DM you the September issue of Cultural Threads.

🛋 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐗 👉 Virtual therapy for South Asian, SWANA/MENA folks, & Muslims living in Texas, USA 🔗 Book a free 15-min consult through the link in my bio


References:
2003 Civil rights report: Guilt by association. (2025a). Cair.Com. https://www.cair.com/civil_rights/2003-civil-rights-report-guilt-by-association/
2004 Civil rights report: Unpatriotic acts. (2025b). Cair.Com. https://www.cair.com/civil_rights/2004-civil-rights-report-unpatriotic-acts/
Bayoumi, M. (2024, May 23). Decades of spying and repression: The anti-Palestinian origins of American Islamophobia. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/23/israel-gaza-war-islamophobia
Gutiérrez, N. Y. (2022). The pain we carry: Healing from complex PTSD for people of color. New Harbinger Publications.

Mahmood Mamdani named and critiqued how Muslims were divided into political categories after 9/11, the “good” Muslim vs....
09/17/2026

Mahmood Mamdani named and critiqued how Muslims were divided into political categories after 9/11, the “good” Muslim vs. “bad” Muslim, where being accepted was tied to being secular, westernized, or modern.

Many of us learned to monitor how we speak, soften your anger, overachieve, appear patriotic and perform to be one of the “good ones”.

These patterns don't automatically come from Islamophobia alone. Anti-Muslim hate, family dynamics and historical trauma are all layers which can all shape people-pleasing, perfectionism, self-monitoring and difficulty expressing anger.

These strategies may have helped us find safety or belonging. But when anti-Muslim hate continues across schools, workplaces, media, and politics, the pressure to perform “goodness” and “safety” can remain.

Noticing what these patterns have protected us from can help us recognize what still serves a purpose and make room for new ways of feeling safe, connected and confident in our identities.
You don't have to be the perfect Muslim, the perfect American, or the perfect representative of your community to deserve acceptance and respect.
💬𝗖𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓: What pressures to appear more acceptable have you felt or witnessed?
🛋🔗𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐎 to schedule your free 15-minute phone consultation call today. Virtual therapy for South Asian, SWANA (Middle Eastern & North African) & Muslims


References:
Clay, R. (2011, September). Muslims in America, post 9/11. Https://Www.Apa.Org. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/09/muslims
Mamdani, M. (2002). Good Muslim, bad Muslim: A political perspective on culture and terrorism. American Anthropologist, 104(3), 766–775.
Mamdani, M. (2004). Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror.
Sirin, S. R., & Fine, M. (2007). Hyphenated selves: Muslim American youth negotiating identities on the fault lines of global conflict. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1(1), 16–38.

09/05/2026

25 years after 9/11, the narratives used to portray Muslims still matter.

This week, Muslim students and families asked the Texas State Board of Education to reconsider how Islam would be represented in classrooms. The adopted standards kept the Anti-Muslim framing they challenged.

When Muslims are repeatedly portrayed through violence, extremism and threat, it shapes how dangerous and violent treatment of Muslims can become normalized both at home and abroad.
And then we're asked to manage our anxiety, regulate our nervous systems and feel safe. We cannot place the entire responsibility on marginalized people to psychologically adapt to environments that continue to harm them.

Coping can't be our only response to systemic harm. One way we can respond to helplessness is through agency, civic engagement, and collective action.

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐎 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆? 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄:
🗳️ Emgage USA — Want to become more civically involved? Learn about voting, civic participation and mobilizing Muslim communities.
📣 Emgage Action — Want to influence policy? Find advocacy efforts, policy issues and ways to engage elected officials.
⚖️ CAIR — Experienced discrimination or want to support civil-rights work? Start here for advocacy and reporting.
📚 ISPU — Want evidence to educate yourself or others? Find research and data about American Muslims.

There’s a specific kind of silence that lives in many South Asian households.The kind where you can tell something happe...
08/27/2026

There’s a specific kind of silence that lives in many South Asian households.

The kind where you can tell something happened, even when no one talks about it. Maybe you grew up knowing pieces of your family’s Partition story without ever learning the full picture.

When elders don’t talk about painful histories like Partition, there can be many reasons for it:
Silence may have helped them survive while they had to rebuild.

Privacy, being strong and moving on are common cultural values which shape what feels appropriate to share outloud.

Sometimes people are just not ready to share
But the silence around Partition didn’t exist only inside our families.

Growing up, I don’t recall learning much about the Partition of India in my history classes. People often describe that Partition is viewed as a footnote, if that, in history courses, especially within the West. Despite the event displacing millions and reshaping the entire Indian subcontinent. Much of what we know comes from pieces of family stories, documentaries, and oral histories.

Silence around historical trauma can be personal, cultural, and also shaped by systems in power. History is often shaped by who gets to tell it.

When it comes to intergenerational mental health, what isn’t spoken doesn’t just disappear. Families carry forward stories, memories, and beliefs about safety, trust, family roles, achievement, identity, responsibility, and what it means to “stay strong.”
I’ve been exploring these questions through my own family’s Partition history and my work as a therapist.

💬𝗖𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓: “𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍” and I’ll DM you my new blog, The Stories We Inherit, on Partition, intergenerational trauma, resilience & storytelling.

🧵 Join 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒, my new newsletter about South Asian, SWANA & Muslim mental health 👉 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐈𝐎

🛋 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐗 👉 Schedule a free 15-minute consultation through my bio.

We often hear that time heals, silence protects and remembering means reliving. The trauma carried by families affected ...
08/18/2026

We often hear that time heals, silence protects and remembering means reliving.

The trauma carried by families affected by Partition carry wounds that can still be seen across generations today.

The effects of displacement, violence, loss, separation and silence did not necessarily end with the generation that experienced them. They can continue to shape the ways families communicate, cope, understand safety and make sense of family history.
Healing does not mean forgetting. It means creating space for conversations, honoring those that lived through it and building a future carrying healed stories with us.

For families shaped by Partition, remembering can be an act of connection, understanding and care. You don’t have to carry these stories alone.

🛋🔗𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐎 to schedule your free 15-minute phone consultation call today. Virtual therapy for South Asian, SWANA (Middle Eastern) & Muslims


References:
Archive, U. H. (2024). 947 India partition 1947 stock photos, high-res pictures, and images - getty images. Gettyimages.In. https://www.gettyimages.in/photos/india-partition-1947?page=2
Jazeera, A. (2017). Seventy years of India-Pakistan partition in pictures. In Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2017/8/15/seventy-years-of-india-pakistan-partition-in-pictures/
Kaur H, Jaggi P. Intergenerational Trauma in the Context of the 1947 India-Pakistan Partition. Psychol Stud (Mysore). 2023 Jun 10:1-14. doi: 10.1007/s12646-023-00730-w. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37361513; PMCID: PMC10257180.

Many of us were taught that being family-oriented meant always being available and emotionally responsible for the peopl...
06/03/2026

Many of us were taught that being family-oriented meant always being available and emotionally responsible for the people you love.

From a psychological lens, however, being family-oriented and emotionally enmeshed are not the same thing.

Emotional enmeshment happens when your sense of responsibility goes beyond you and into other people's emotions. You may feel the need to prevent conflict and make sure everyone's okay.

As time passes by, this can start showing up as chronic guilt, burnout, and resentment.

Recognizing these patterns is important. You can love your family deeply while still having healthy boundaries.

Therapy can help and provide a space to explore these patterns without judgment. Many individuals' healing journeys begin when they have the language for the experiences they have been carrying.

https://svenschild.com/blog/f/understanding-emotional-enmeshment-in-families

🛋 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐗 👉 Virtual therapy for South Asian, SWANA (Middle Eastern) & Muslims
🔗 Book a free 15-min consult through the link in my bio

9/11 didn’t just change the US, it changed how our parents raised us, how we saw ourselves, and how the world saw us.For...
05/26/2026

9/11 didn’t just change the US, it changed how our parents raised us, how we saw ourselves, and how the world saw us.

For many South Asian, Arab, and Muslim families, safety became the top priority. Parents carried deep fear and tried to protect us through silence, assimilation, or invisibility. We carry those lessons too. Sometimes as people pleasing, shame around our identity, or fear of speaking up.

Research shows that Anti-Muslim hate takes a toll on mental health, leading to anxiety, depression, and even identity struggles (TIME, 2023). Muslim kids face bullying at twice the rate of peers, some even skip school out of fear.

We’re not only inheritors of trauma, we’re also inheritors of resilience. Our communities have always resisted, built, and reclaimed space. We can honor our parents’ fears while choosing differently for ourselves.

➡️ Share this if you’ve felt these echoes. Save it for days when you need a reminder that you are not alone.

Reference: https://time.com/6335453/islamophobia-mental-health-effects-essay/

Created in light of the recent Anti-Muslim hate (Islamophobia) crime in Connecticut where two 12-year old Muslim girls w...
05/21/2026

Created in light of the recent Anti-Muslim hate (Islamophobia) crime in Connecticut where two 12-year old Muslim girls were taregetted and physically assaulted at Wallace Middle School for wearing the hijab. We must do better as a community to support Muslims as the current climate of this country moves towards inciting discrimination and hate towards Muslims.

Resources:
https://islamophobia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024_Fatal_The_Resurgence_of_Anti-Muslim_Hate-1.pdf

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