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THE HEALTH | AUGUST , 2021
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Is spirituality relevant in addressing mental health issues ?
Various religions consider man as not merely as an advanced primate , but a being of spiritual origin or nature
CONTEMPORARY psychology provides plenty of suggestions on the prevention or minimisation of mental health issues such as exercise , relaxation techniques , good diet , getting enough sleep and avoiding stressors . Management and treatment include counselling , cognitive behavioural changes , interpersonal and problem-solving skills , psychotherapies , drugs and medications .
However , in the current dominant worldview of intellectual over-reliance and supremacy of reason , there has been a severely diminishing place for spiritual or religious elements . From the perspective of dogmatic contemporary science , spiritually is considered a separate personal matter and is at best a non-mainstream approach of addressing the escalating mental health issues globally .
The spiritual perspective doesn ’ t discard the physiological component of mental health , but the reverse cannot be said for mainstream psychology . In that sense , the spiritual perspective is more holistic .
Various religions consider man as not merely as an advanced primate , but a being of spiritual origin or nature , operating through the biological avatar and perceiving the world via the cognitive functions .
As an example , Islam recognises that man consist of several interconnected dimensions : the spirit , the qalb ( the spiritual “ heart ”, the seat of the soul or the spiritual centre ), the intellect / mind ( the qalb ’ s seat of understanding and reason ), and the physical self ( biology , and its basic animal instincts and needs ). These dimensions have a hierarchy ( listed sequentially above from highest to lowest ) of influence on the man , but it can be in both directions .
Thus , there is a higher dimension of the human being , impacting the mental state and vice versa . As pointed by Consultant Psychiatrist and member of the Royal College of Psychiatrist , Dr Mostafa Al Badawi , the change to a whole-hearted acceptance and understanding and practice of Islam and its teachings is followed with a “ cognitive restructuring and the emotional correlates ”.
Restructuring of the cognitive faculty
One of Malaysia ’ s ’ eleventh recipient of the prestigious Anugerah Tokoh Akademik Negara Professor Tan Sri Mohd Kamal Hassan , mentioned that God ’ s comprehensive guidance provide clear answers that cannot be provided through human reasoning alone . These fundamental
EMIR-SING
BY AMEEN KAMAL questions regarding human existence impact how we respond to the stressors of life .
Key questions include : What is the true purpose and meaning of human existence ? What is the ultimate destiny of mankind ? What is the meaning and purpose of the universe and the life of this transitory world ? What are the true measurements of success and failure , gain and loss , happiness and misery ? What are the correct means of achieving true happiness and of averting true misery and failure in this world , and in the Hereafter ?
A complete understanding and conviction of the answers to these questions will result in the restructuring of the cognitive faculty , transforming his or her entire world view which translates into vastly different ( and correct ) responses to both good and bad worldly events .
Of course , biology , genetics , impact of psychological trauma or damage ( physical , chemical etc .) on the physiological aspect of the mind plays a role in mental health , and if so , the holistic psycho-spiritual approach does not reject what is prescribed in mainstream psychiatric treatment , so long as it doesn ’ t harm the body and mind further .
It is ironic that the over-reliance of the intellect in searching for answers to improve the human condition ( in mainstream sources ) results in the almost exclusive focus on outward and peripheral forms of changes , instead of the fortification of this internal dimension which humans rely solely upon . This is akin to an attempt of building the best national security infrastructures , yet forgetting to install basic home security .
For example , if we refer to the white paper “ Building Back Broader : Policy Pathways for an Economic Transformation ” by the World Economic Forum ( WEF ), it recognises the need for new models that actually solve societal problems , and the importance of fairer distribution of economic value between workers and companies , and across all socio-economical , geographical , and national divides .
Learning from history
Although it is true that we need vast changes in economic systems and governing principles , these are still outward approaches . Not to mention such changes require time for collective evolution and may go through several iterations ( through socio-economic changes , civil unrest , geopolitical crisis and even war ) before settling down . People will always need something at the individual level while society goes through these revolutions .
The WEF white paper provided a matrix of likelihood of world major events and its level of impacts , which can act as a rough guidance on where we need to prioritise our efforts , in order to avoid those catastrophic trajectories . However , the WEF also included risk events categorised under “ unknown likelihood ” and “ unknown impacts ” which it dubbed as “ Frontier risks ”.
The list makes up more than half of the events on the table , which includes bio-weapons , human-engineered pandemic , data theft , AI superintelligence , genetic engineering and many more . The list is of course non-exhaustive but it ’ s clearly limited to our imagination .
The age of uncertainty resonates with what Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University , Niall Ferguson , mentioned on Bloomberg in that “ the next global disaster is already on its way ”, and that “ we simply cannot know which of all the possible future disasters will strike and when .
All we can do is learn from history how to construct social and political structures that are at least resilient and at best antifragile ”
When the limited and fragile human mind is subjected to continuous levels of high uncertainties ( yet still hopelessly reliant on reason alone ), it can result in the myriad forms of mental and emotional crisis manifesting as confusion , anger , severe anxiety , chronic depression , and even insanity .
Both Ferguson and the WEF document acknowledge that we need new “ constructs ”, “ structures ”, “ systems ” and “ models ” – all external changes without any focus on the fortification of the mind as the last bastion of personal defence against external stressors .
Holistic mental resilience
It is unthinkable that future paradigm shifts ignore this crucial component of individual well-being ( collectively contributing to societal well-being ) given the fact that we can never address all parameters that could be contributors to potential future disasters .
Therefore , it is ultimately how these external calamities translate into our own thoughts ( and our corresponding actions ) that will determine whether our minds will see these as ease or difficulties .
As mentioned by famous motivational speaker and writer , Yasmin Mogahed , “ The measure of ease or difficulty in hardship is on a different scale – an unseen scale ”. Using the scientific analogy , this means there ’ s no “ standard curve ” to assign levels of events to a certain universal measurement level of hardship or ease . This is aligned with the fact that people have different circumstances , face different trials , and have different capabilities to process external stressors and undergo tribulations .
Yasmin Mogahed pointed to a fundamental principle which defines the level of ease or difficulty ( from the Islamic perspective ) of any events when she stated : “ The ease or level of difficulty is based only on the level of Divine help . Nothing , nothing is easy , unless God makes it easy on me . Not a traffic jam . Not a paper cut . And nothing is hard if Allah makes it easy on me . Not illness , not death , not being thrown into fire , or tortured by a tyrant .”
Experts in the field on medical science , psychology and counselling , particularly those who subscribe to religious teachings , should harmonise psycho-spiritual components from the authoritative sources alongside contemporary scientific knowledge in order to develop an integrated approach to prevent and overcome various mental health issues plaguing society today . This is the paradigm shift towards holistic mental resilience , which is a crucial yet increasingly forgotten part of improving the human condition . — The Health
Ameen Kamal is the Head of Science & Technology at EMIR Research , an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research .