What is Mental Health?

World Mental Health Day – 10 October 2024

With World Mental Health Day coming up later this week, we thought we will focus on the Islamic perspective to Mental Health.

The terms mental health, stress, anxiety, depression, self-care and other similar terms are commonly heard these days. They casually come up in our discussions, or are discussed in our classes and social media. There has been a rise in people and organizations promoting “mental health awareness.” What exactly is mental health and mental illness, and how do we understand them within an Islamic context?

What is Mental Health?

From an Islamic theological perspective, psycho-spiritual health is directly related to a human being’s ability to actualize their primordial spiritual purpose. All human beings are created to tread a path that will ultimately ensure their salvation in the afterlife and their ability to acquire Allah’s pleasure. Health is thus, from an Islamic theological perspective, indicated by an individual’s successful ability to remain on this path of worship. Hence any obstacles that obstruct their ability to tread this path is seen as detrimental to human functioning and worthy of attention.  This includes psychological, physical or emotional struggles that get in the way of our ability to worship Allah freely.

More specifically, a holistic perspective on psychological health must be multidimensional as it encompasses our overall health and well-being. This includes:

• Physical health: diet and exercise, regular check-ups with doctors, and hygiene
• Mental health: Our thoughts. Are they positive, realistic, and functional? Are they helping us complete our day-to-day goals and tasks?
• Emotional health: Awareness of feelings–both positive and negative–and the ability to regulate them in a healthy manner
• Social/behavioural health: Our relationships and interactions with others are healthy and functional. The ability to accept and enjoy happiness, as well as recognize and resolve conflict
• Spiritual health: Our connection and relationship with Allah, dhikr (remembrance of Allah), dua, as well as completing our mandatory obligations to Allah such as prayer and fasting.

When all of these areas are balanced and working in harmony, we can achieve optimal mental health. However, mental health is fluid. We need to regularly and constantly work on finding this balance. Achieving better states in our mental, spiritual, psychological health and maturity is a constant journey that we traverse all our lives.

Naturally, the balance we strive for will look different at different stages of our lives. For example, during finals week, your attention may be more focused on academics, and your social or physical activities may take a backseat. Or you might find yourself taking temporary social breaks to seek reclusion, refocus, and recalibrate. This is still considered balance –striving for optimal mental wellness is not a linear journey. If you find lasting behavioural or emotional patterns that are not balanced, however, you will need to check in and identify how to get back to working towards balance.

What is Mental Illness?

When our mental health is negatively affected for a significant amount of time, a mental illness can develop. It is an illness of our mind that impacts all areas of our health: emotional, mental, physical, social, and spiritual. A few triggers for mental illness are:

• Experiencing trauma
• Significant life changes
• Family conflict and distress
• Life stressors and/or lack of support and resources

Mental illness ranges in severity and symptoms. It can be non-clinical distress that all of us experience from time to time, or it can reach the clinical threshold (particularly when your overall mental health is neglected for too long).  Additionally, it can manifest itself differently in people based on support systems, personal history, personality, genetics, and other factors.

Some examples of mental illness are:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder/waswasa
• Phobias
• Personality Disorders