Biological perspectives

• Islam recognizes that some mental illnesses or abnormal

behaviours may be purely biological in nature or set off
by a series of stressful life events, but the Islamic theory
of abnormal psychology also emphasizes the concept of
spiritual/ religiousity disease (e.g: people with low iman
or always keep distance from Allah may be more easily
affected by the influence of the jinn) or death (e.g:
persistently adhere to false beliefs may loss faith to
Allah). Allah says:

“And be not like those who forgot Allah, so He made

them forget themselves..” (Qur’an, al-Hashr: 19)

*it does not necessarily imply that someone who suffers

from mental illnesses is morally deficient, but distance
from Allah may inscrease the likelihood of such disorder.

*those who refuse to believe and who turn away from

the remembrance of Allah will experience difficulties in
their lives. This in reference to the many forms of
 difficulty that a human may face, such as depression,
anxiety, grief and so on.
• From Islamic perspective, it is unlawful to say that
biological factor is the sole determinant of abnormal
psychology, as if we consider the biological perspective
as a God.

Psychodynamic Approach (Sigmund Freud’s theory)

• As a Muslim, we can’t totally reject Freud’s theory, that
mentioned the adult abnormality was caused by unresolved
conflicts in early childhood, because in reality there are actually
many people with psychological disturbance do suffered as the
result of their childhood traumas. However, his theory can not
be considered as pre- determinant (saying that suffering
childhood trauma will lead to abnormal behaviour in
adulthood) and people do not have free will, because in Islam,
there is always a room for us to make changes and
improvements in ourselves. Allah says:

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until

they change what is in themselves” (Qur’an, ar-Ra’ad: 11)

• Besides that, Freud’s theory tended to focus too much on

sexual desires which may resulted in abnormal behaviour and
 thought, but de-emphasized the importance of interpersonal
(communication between people), social factors and
spirituality/ religiousity, as Allah s.w.t has mentioned in al-
Quran:

“And whoever turns away from My remembrance –

indeed, he will have a depressed (difficult) life, and We
will gather (raise) him on the Day of Resurrection blind.”
(Qur’an, at-Taha: 124)

Behavioural perspective
• Islam agrees with behavioural perspective in the
aspect of abnormality is learned from the faulty
environment (nurture) or observation, however,
the behaviourists ignore the important role of
other important perspectives.
• The principle of classic and operant conditioning
are helpful in understanding certain types of
behaviours as well as their environmental
influences.

*as an explaination of psychological disorders,

classical conditioning explain that learning
through conditioning, results in emotional reactios
that interfere with a person’s ability to carry out
everyday tasks.
 For example: a 6 year-old Jeremy has accidentally
locked in a dark closet. The next time he needs
something from that closet, he might feel nervous,
almost panicky.

*extending the operant conditioning to

psychological disorder, we can see how a disturbed
behaviour that is reinforced may become ingrained
(deep-rooted) in a person.
For example: an overprotective parent may
inadvertently reinforce a child with mental
abnormality dependency by consoling the child
with hugs, kisses, and cookies everytime the child
expresses
• However, they are limited due to their inability to
explain all types of learning and behavioural
phenomena.

*Eg: Not every abnormal behaviour and thought

can be explained through merely through the lens
of behavioural perspectives.

• They also ignore the important role of cognition,

volition(free will) and choice. One of the
consequences of following these principles is to
take away responsibility from the individual and it
is contradict with Islamic teaching.
 *Why? Because everyone of us are responsible for
our own deeds.
*eg: when we totally submit or depend everything
on the environmental factors.
*Spiritual modelling is a recent development in the area of
observational learning. It is understood that humans may
grow spiritually by imitating the life or conduct of a
spiritual exemplar either someone of the past (prophets)
or the present (a religious family)
*For example: when Emma was a small child, a pider
dropped o Emma saw a spider after this, she screamed
again, drawing attention to her. nto her, giving her a lots of
attention. Each time she saw a spider after this

Cognitive perspective
-Islam acknowledges the abnormal behaviours and mental
disturbance are caused by faulty and irritational
cognitions, however, this perspective ignores the other
factors that may as well give influences towards the
abnormal psychology.

-There is no spiritual element is included in this

perspective as Islam also recognizes the whispering of
Satan into the human hearts to confuse them with doubts,
suspicion and sceptisicm, which may lead them to behave
and think abnormally, as what Allah has mentioned in al-
Qur’an:

“Then Satan whispered to him that whispering may

also came from the nafs itself, which may inclined to evil,
or from devils among humankind.”

(Qur’an, at-Taha: 120)

*they see maladaptive functioning as resulting from illogical thinking.
Eg: Emma’s fear of spiders as distorted thinking: “All spiders are
vicious and will bite me, and I will die” .So Emma’s particular thinking
pattern put her at at a higher risk of depression and anxiety than
those of a person who thinks more logically.