Ever notice how, when a disturbed young Muslim commits an act of violence, it’s immediately blamed on his religion—but when a disturbed white and non-Muslim man commits an act of violence, it’s because he’s a “loner,” “disturbed,” or “troubled”—even when there are clear indications he is motivated by and sees himself as part of a transnational network of extremists? The way the media portrays Muslims, you’d think we are immune to any kind of mental trauma, or that our actions can only ever be motivated by religion. But Muslims are human beings. Our minds work like everybody else’s. We are susceptible to the same weaknesses, and liable to go through the same pains and traumas.

As a Muslim, you get affected by life’s troubles and disturbing thoughts like everyone else, but you can deal with them much better because you have a clear roadmap of where you came from, where you are going and why, so you have a head start having this fundamental knowledge from its source.

Mental health remains a taboo topic within the Muslim community, shrouded with layers of misconceptions and misinformation. Often people completely reject mental health as being a problem or they completely reject the role of spirituality in improving mental health.

The following are some misconceptions about mental health, tackled through an Islamic perspective.

“Depression and anxiety are caused by low Imaan.”

Although this statement may have a grain of truth, it is mostly problematic and harmful.

Allah does say in the Quran, “And whoever turns away from My remembrance – indeed, he will have a depressed life.” [Quran 20: 124]

Look at the story of Yaqub AS, who became blind due to his excessive and continuous sorrow due to the loss of his beloved son Yusuf AS. Whatever the exact reasoning was, this story does tell us that excessive sorrow is not a sign of weak Imaan, as Yaqub AS definitely had more Imaan than any human alive today.

Research has shown that being connected to one’s faith can indeed be a protective factor against some mental illnesses such as depression and PTSD. At the same time, this does not preclude people with strong faith from having mental health conditions.

Evidently then, the causes of mental health issues must be multifactorial. Health is understood to be determined by the complex interplay of bio-psycho-social and spiritual factors. Thus, while on one hand, from a spiritual perspective, an excess of sin, hardening of the heart and hopelessness in Allah could be risk factors for poor mental health, at the same time, there are so many other biological, psychological and social factors which can put an individual at risk.

 “Depression is all in your head”

This statement is very demeaning and tries to invalidate the experience of those with mental health issues. Indeed, the commonly accepted pathophysiology of mental illnesses is the derangement of neurotransmitters and a common psychological cause is an excess of negative thoughts both of which all live in one’s head.

So in a way mental health illnesses are in one’s head. But why should that be a disgraceful matter?

Nevertheless, the effects of depression and mental health illnesses are not just limited to the head. For instance, depression can cause weight gain. Severe anxiety gives you an increased heart rate. So depression is not ALL in your head.

“True Muslims do not suffer from depression. You are depressed because Allah does not love you and is punishing you.”

The basis of this argument is that if you trust and hope in Allah, you do not have a reason to be sad.

Following that logic then true Muslims will never get diabetes because if we are true Muslims, we would follow the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ and only eat to one third of our stomach and fast every Monday and Thursday. Even then, one might end up getting type I diabetes. But as we all know these are ideal standards that most of us do not fulfil. But does that make us bad Muslims? It makes us human. In the same vein then, blaming people with mental health conditions is a sign of our own ignorance.

We need to start viewing mental health conditions like any another disease. It is like a trial from Allah through which Allah will inshallah forgive our sins and increase our ranks. Rasulullah ﷺ said that never a believer is stricken with discomfort, hardship or illness, grief or even with mental worry that his sins are not expiated for him.  People who struggle through mental health problems come out stronger and with deep personal insights that other people might not have.

“You just need to recite more Quran and pray more to fix your mental health problems.”

To tackle this misconception, let us use the same parallel as diabetes. Why don’t we just pray and recite Qur’an instead of taking medications and exercising? Rasullullah ﷺ taught us to treat our illnesses with medicines. He taught us to take our precautions and then trust in Allah. Then of course we can pray for shifa and use the Qur’an as remedy.

However, it is true that the Qur’an can greatly improve mental health. As Allah says, the Quran is shifa or healing for what is in the hearts. But its effectiveness is most perceptible when read with understanding and contemplation. The Quran does this by imparting hope and transforming our thinking into a more positive pattern.