08/02/2017
MasyaAllah just read this. Thank you so much. May everyone benefit In shaa Allah.
This may be helpful to our Muslim friends!
Qaiser Darussalam Publications held a forum titled "Journey to Recovery" last Sunday which talked about the journey to recovering from mental illness. It was a very insightful and inspiring sharing session that took into accounts the medical and Islamic spiritual perspectives of mental illness.
We have highlighted several important points that we picked up during the forum and we would like to share it with you:
1. Mental illness is often generalised and misunderstood. When we talk about mental illness the major public would automatically think about "being crazy". But it's not that. There are many types of it. There are illnesses which have a more of biological basis (scizophrenia) and there are those that have more of a social and psychological basis (depression).
2. Mental illness consists of 4 components: biological, social, psychological and spiritual. Management of MI requires addressing these 4 aspects.
3. Psychotherapy helps a patient's recovery by tapping into the brain's neuroplasticity. Therapy allows our brain cells to expand its neuronal network and increase branches of connection between one another.
4. Depression isn't stress. It's the feeling of emptiness and hopelessness. There's a huge difference.
5. Anger is a basic emotion which can serve us good. Anger isn't necessarily a negative emotion but rather one that is essential for survival.
6. Crying is a powerful tool that is often necessary when one is going through a challenging period. Tears break the veil of our heart and cleanse our soul.
7. Our human body consists of the aqal and qalb which controls the emotions and decisions we make day to day.
8. There are 4 entries through which will make us more vulnerable to spiritual disturbances: extreme anger, extreme nafs, extreme fear and extreme sadness.
9. We are a holistic being with a mind and a heart that operates on the same spectrum.
10. Mental illness requires medical help. Spiritual disturbances require religious help.
One is not more important than the other.
There is a way to incorporate both options into our lives.
11. Medication helps us with the unbearable symptoms. Zikir helps us with uplifting our spiritual strength.
Both are effective coping mechanism to combat mental illness.
Please do not be afraid to seek help before it's too late. Your mental health is important.
You are important.
