How can psychology help solve Muslims’ problems of psychological disorders without resolving to the already crowed mental institutions?
Community psychologists can help by:
- Consult with community leaders, agencies/institutions and lawmaker to change stressful conditions (e.g. unemployment, lack of Islamic education, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, marital conflict, and sub-standard housing) that contribute to psychological disorders (including incorrect views about God, meaning of life, and Islamic fiqh/law)
- Combine comprehensive family support and early Islamic childhood education to reduce the prevalance of chronic juvenile deliquency
- Set up centre for people with problems (e.g. abuser or suicidal) and work with teachers, imam, and du`at to sensitise them to early signs of psychological disorders.
- Rally communit forces to shore up the ties of people with disorders to family and vocational life.
Do you think Muslims have given enough opportunity provided by Allah to people with psychological problems? Or better, to prevent them from developing the disorders in the first place?
Yours Islamically and psychologically,
Alizi Alias