Islamic Psychology: Expanding Beyond the Clinic

Abstract

is president of the Alkaram Institute, a nonprofit research and educational institution dedicated to advancing Islamic psychology to benefit society and improve lives. The institution conducts research, publishes scholarly works, and offers educational programs.

Muslims and Mental Health Services: A Concept Map and a Theoretical Framework

“…The role of contextual factors (Arslan, 2021;McDonnell & Semkovska, 2020;Tanhan, 2019Tanhan, , 2020Yıldırım et al, 2021b), spirituality (Schulz, 2019;Tanhan, 2020), and religiosity (Al-Karam, 2020;Tanhan & Francisco, 2019;Tanhan & Strack, 2020) in mental health has increased in the recent years, which has affected Muslims' mental health research as well (Tanhan, 2019). Muslims face multiple biopsychosocial, spiritual, and economic challenges, yet they severely underutilize mental health services.…”

Living Islamic psychology: Portrait of a Muslim American psychologist.

“…Given the current climate of diversity and inclusion, I have found a welcoming environment and people want to hear Islamic and Muslim voices and perspectives (York Al-Karam, 2018a, 2018b, 2018c, 2020, 2021). That said, I have also had a number of challenges.…”

“…First, there is still a lot of ignorance about the field of R/S in psychology in general, even though it is quite a robust area. I have argued that R/S has always been part of psychology (York Al-Karam, 2018a, 2018b, 2020, 2021) even though at certain points in modern history, particularly during the years of psychoanalysis and then behaviorism, it was looked down upon—but this was also simultaneously the time of the emergence of humanistic and transpersonal psychologies as well as faith-based psychologies (e.g., see Reuder, 1999—history of Division 36 and the role that catholic psychologists played). Related to this, there also remains a lot of ignorance about the existence of the field of Islamic psychology and moreover, what it is and is not.…”

Introduction to the special issue on Islamic spirituality in clinical contexts.

“…Integrating spirituality into clinical practice has been a robust area of scholarly activity for at least a few decades, although one could argue that issues of religion and spirituality have always been present “within the clinic,” albeit in varying degrees at different points in history (Reuder, 1999; York Al-Karam, 2018a, 2018b, 2020, 2021). One could also argue that although this is a robust subarea of research and application, much more is needed, and there is still a long way to go in terms of broader awareness of the rightful and necessary place of religion and spirituality within psychology and other clinical domains (York Al-Karam, 2020, 2021).…”

“…Moreover, what is today called psychology as well as the broader field of mental health was not “discovered” or “developed” by White Europeans 150 years ago as is taught in most psychology textbooks. Rather, Muslims and Muslim cultures have produced some of the earliest works on psychology, medicine, and healing (e.g., see Awaad & Ali, 2015, 2016; Awaad et al, 2019, 2020; Badri, 2013; Haque, 2004) and Muslims continue to make important contributions in contemporary times (e.g., see Abu-Raiya, 2012; Ahmed & Amer, 2012; Elzamzamy & Keshavarzi, 2019; Haque & Rothman, 2021; Kaplick & Skinner, 2017; Keshavarzi et al, 2020; Rassool, 2016, 2021; Rothman, 2022; Rothman & Coyle, 2020; Utz, 2011; York Al-Karam, 2018a, 2018b, 2020, 2021) and more are featured in this special issue. These matters notwithstanding, the articles in this issue are diverse and represent important topics.…”