Islamic practices and mental health

In this video, Dr Rothman describes three Islamic practices: salah (five daily prayers); dua (asking for God’s assistance) and dhikr (remembrance of God) and discusses the ways in which they can impact on the mental health of Muslims.

Religious practices integrate the spirituality of Muslims into their everyday lives. It is therefore helpful for practitioners to be familiar with these practices, to understand their significance and role in the day-to-day lives of the Muslims they support.

Dr Rothman explains that Islamic religious practices can be “powerful and practical tools for positively impacting mental health”, highlighting the ways in which these practices can be used as psychotherapeutic tools to build stability and resilience.

However, practitioners should also be aware that Islamic religious practices may also affect mental health in less positive ways. For example, when religious coping through religious practice is taken as an alternative to seeking mental health support. In the next step, Dr Rothman outlines the impacts of religious beliefs on Muslim mental health.

In this video at 03:38 Dr Abdallah Rothman says: “call upon me and I will answer.” The quotation from the Qur’an referred to reads:

Your Lord has proclaimed, “Call upon Me, I will respond to you. Surely those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell, fully humbled.” (Qur’an 60:41)

Over to you

Think about one of the practices that Dr Rothman mentions in the video (salah; dua; dhikr), and consider the following.

• Is this practice similar to any of the methods you use to provide mental health support?
• How would you feel about incorporating it into the mental health support you provide, do you have experience of doing this?

Add your thoughts to the comments below.