The Role of Spiritual Belief and Islamic Practice in Improvement of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental Disorders

Background and Objective: Many contemporary Western scientists are emphasizing that the problem with modern humans is that they are basically in need of faith and spiritual values because faith in God is associated with a spiritual power that helps humans to endure hardships and in turn diminishes anxiety level. Saying prayers is assumed as a palliative treatment and a stimulus to biological and physiological responses in patients. Therefore, the initial purpose of this study was to explore and explain the role of spiritual beliefs and religious practice in improvement of mental health and decreasing mental disorders. Materials and Methods: Content analysis and library information search were used to collect the data for this study. In addition, this research was an endeavor to throw light upon, analyze and explain Islamic teachings, concepts and themes as related to mental health and mental disorders. Results: Analytical results of several studies indicate that there is a significant relationship between depression and religious beliefs (P<۰.۰۵). As reported by the previous studies, there is an inverse relationship between religious beliefs and spouse abuse. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that there is a significant relationship between religious beliefs and mental health and people with well-built faith have more mental peace. Meanwhile, adherence to Islamic practice has a preventive and diminishing role in mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, sexual perversions, suicide and spouse abuse.

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Keywords: Mental health , Spiritual belief , Islamic practice , Mental disorders