Muslims and Mental Health

How can we lead healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives, and flourish as Muslims? How can we be more resilient in an ever-changing world?

Mental health is a poorly understood and highly stigmatised area of health in the Muslim community. Yet, good mental health is key to being more resilient and overcoming hardships. But what is mental health? Mental health can be defined as the state of emotional, psychological and social well-being in which an individual can achieve their potential, can work productively and cope with the normal stresses of life, and is able to contribute to their community¹. Mental health is essential to personal, community and socio-economic development.

Mental Health is Part of General Health

Consideration of mental health as part of general health is the key to living wholesome, fulfilled lives, and this is what we inspire Muslims to embody at ‘That Muslim Life’. Muslims are not spared from mental health issues, yet there is heavy stigma and cultural shaming that has long been associated with experiencing and expressing mental health concerns.

This has led to a disparity in the awareness and attitudes towards mental health issues, and the likelihood to seek help for them among Muslim adults, compared to non-Muslim counterparts. A study in young British Muslims in the UK revealed that Muslims were less likely to correctly identify symptoms of mental health illness compared to their non-Muslim peers².

This stark difference is compounded by a lack of resources that are specifically tailored to Muslims to take care of their mental health. A recent survey we conducted and a 2021 report from the ‘The Lantern initiative’ found that 38% of adult  Muslims did not know where to go for mental health support³. Another 2021 report that surveyed young British Muslim adults found that 4 in 5 Muslims had struggled with mental health issues, and 3 in 5 young Muslims indicated that it’s important to them that mental health services be faith-sensitive⁴.

A misconception that prevails in the Muslim community is that mental health struggles are tests from God. More so, that they should be borne with patience, rather than being actively addressed by seeking professional help. This myth probably accounts for why so many adult Muslims do not seek help for mental health issues, and are unaware of the resources at hand.

Common Mental Health Issues in Muslims and Contributing Factors

While various biological or societal factors may cause stress, depression, anxiety or grief among Muslims like anyone else, Muslims, particularly those living in Western countries, also experience socio-economic pressures, such as poverty, bullying, racial discrimination, Islamophobia, which additionally contribute to mental health struggles.

In addition, the advent of social media platforms has made sharing information and connection easier, but has also negatively impacted our mental health⁵. There are a few recent and compelling studies that link frequent use of social media with poor mental health outcomes in Muslims, e.g poor sleep, anxiety, low self-esteem and depression.  

For this article, TML collaborated with penultimate year King’s College medical student Nawal Yousaf, who shared her experience of working in mental health in the UK’s National Health Service. Nawal has completed a number of psychiatry placements in the most deprived areas of London and during this time, she has come across many Muslim patients suffering from mental health disorders; ranging from anxiety, depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), as well as self-harm, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, drug and alcohol abuse. Regardless of how practising an individual is,  she’s found that a lot of Muslims who are struggling with their mental health have expressed that they feel that the current NHS help does not understand the importance of faith in their life. 

Nawal discusses an example of a 19 year old man who suddenly started having difficulties with ablution and his prayers. He began having constant doubts regarding his wudu and salah, and would take anywhere around 30-45 minutes just to perform wudu before each prayer.

He started experiencing intrusive thoughts and fears that his prayers would not be accepted because his hands weren’t clean enough. After discussing this with his family, he was told this was just a case of “whispers from the shaytaan.” This man then went on to develop elaborate compulsions and constant anxiety and panic attacks, and after discussing with friends he decided to seek help and contacted his GP. After a psychiatric referral, this man was diagnosed with OCD and prescribed anti-depressants and a referral to Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) sessions. Although the medication did improve his symptoms, he found his experience with CBT ineffective, and found it mentally draining having to explain the concept of wudu and prayers in his sessions. 

Her view is that spirituality and religion can play a significant role in the promotion of health for patients from faith communities, yet these aspects of patients’ identity are often not integrated into their care. Current literature suggests that clinicians often feel inadequate at integrating religious and spiritual nuances into patient care, which can make patients feel misunderstood.

Prevention is Better than Cure

So how can we take care of our mental health as Muslims? 

Islam encourages moderation and balance in all things, and to put life’s matters into perspective, with the awareness of our clear purpose in this life. We are lucky as Muslims to be equipped with a mental health toolkit, in the form of; daily prayers at an appointed time which helps to break away from daily stresses, Qur’an recitation, supplication and remembrance of God. 

Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest (Qur’an 13:28 -Surah Ra’ad, Ayah 28)

Being Muslim, we believe in God’s Mercy and put our dependence solely on God, knowing that help comes from Him alone. Rather than condemning struggles with mental health, Islam offers us a solution to restore psychological and mental balance and a roadmap to resilience. Importantly, Islam also encourages us to seek medical help—in the form of counselling or therapy—to treat mental illnesses and there is no shame in doing so.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “God has sent down both the disease and the cure, and He has appointed a cure for every disease, so treat yourselves medically, but use nothing unlawful.” [Hadith 3874].

Sources of Help and Resources for Muslims

Some of the barriers to Muslims accessing and engaging with mental health support services are; not knowing where to seek help from, the fear of judgement, and the lack of faith-based and culturally-adapted counselling and therapy options. This gap in availability of faith-sensitive resources contributes to the reticence of Muslims to seek treatment and support for their mental health. Yet, faith is a powerful resource to help Muslims overcome mental ill-health. 

Progress is being made to address this gap, and there are currently multiple efforts that aim to incorporate religious coping techniques to clinical treatment options for Muslim mental health issues⁶. Ongoing studies suggest that faith-sensitive approaches alongside regular treatment are effective. Multiple reports have highlighted the need for investment in Muslim mental health, and the provision of faith-sensitive support³.

There is a major gap in the market for digital tools and learning programmes that nourish all aspects of mental wellbeing and are delivered within an Islamic worldview. A few apps have recently been developed that specifically cater to Muslims and help Muslims take care of their mental health and well-being.

 

Nawal Yousaf is currently working on ‘Fitra’ – an app which will use faith-based approaches combined with contemporary evidence-based psychotherapeutic practices and engaging technology to empower modern Muslims to actively measure, understand and improve their well-being. 

Other available resources in the UK that provide mental health support to Muslims include;

• Inspirited Minds – Confidential support for mental health issues in Muslims.
• Muslims Youth Helpline – Helpline providing emotional support for Muslim youth.
• Muslim Women Network UK – Helpline offering faith-sensitive support to Muslim women.
• Sakoon – Individual, couple, family counselling.
• MindworksUK – Psychological support to individuals, families and groups.
• Muslim Counsellor and Psychotherapist Network (MCAPN) – Support for Muslim mental health practitioners.

A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body

Human beings are made of the body, mind and soul. Our emotions and mental state are not an oversight of God, they are integral to who we are. Tackling mental well-being starts with all of us acknowledging that mental health is a part of our general health and well-being, and just as we experience physical illness, Muslims may also experience mental health illnesses. Taking care of our mental health is a form of worship and a way of reaffirming pillars of our faith—monotheism, reliance on God—and can make us better Muslims with greater empathy and compassion.

It’s very important that mental health issues be addressed and treated using the available means (e.g medical help) alongside our regular faith-based practices (prayer, remembrance, supplication) to stay mentally healthy, all whilst firmly believing that healing will come from God. 

A man said, “O Messenger of Allah, should I tie my camel and trust in Allah, or should I leave her untied and trust in Allah?” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Tie her and trust in Allah.” Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2517

Increased awareness and conversation around mental health will contribute towards its de-stigmatisation within the Muslim community, and the onus of this process lies with each of us. This mindset shift along with implementation of faith-sensitive approaches to complement clinical support, will contribute to better mental health literacy, and ensure that mental health takes its rightful place within the Muslim community—and it begins with every one of us.

TML would like to thank Nawal Yousaf for collaborating on this article. We hope everyone can lend their support to the development of her mental health app for Muslims and take advantage of the work that she is doing to bring mental health in Muslims to the forefront of people’s discussions.

References in article: 

1. WHO- Mental health https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response
2. Musbahi et al., Understanding the stigma: a novel quantitative study comparing mental health attitudes and perceptions between young British Muslims and their non-Muslims peers. J Ment Health (2022). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34304663/
3. The Lantern Initiative CIC, Civil Society Consulting CIC, Shaikh, A., Chowdhury, R., (2021). Muslim Mental Health Matters: ‘Understanding barriers to accessing mental health support services and gaps in provision for the UK Muslim community’. Available at https://www.thelanterninitiative.co.uk/
4. ‘Hidden Survivors, Uncovering the Mental Health Struggles of Young British Muslims’ a landmark report’ Better Community Business Network. http://bcbn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Press_Release_Publication.pdf
5. Karim F, Oyewande AA, Abdalla LF, Chaudhry Ehsanullah R, Khan S. Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review. Cureus. 2020 Jun 15;12(6):e8627. doi: 10.7759/cureus.8627. PMID: 32685296;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7364393/
6. Mir, G., Ghani, R., Meer, S., & Hussain, G. (2019). Delivering a culturally adapted therapy for Muslim clients with depression. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 12, E26. doi:10.1017/S1754470X19000059