Developing a Model of Islamic Psychology and Psychotherapy Islamic Theology and Contemporary Understandings of Psychology Routledge Research in Psychology Series

At a time when there is increasing need to offer psychotherapeutic approaches that accommodate clients? religious and spiritual beliefs, and acknowledge the potential for healing and growth offered by religious frameworks, this book explores psychology from an Islamic paradigm and demonstrates how Islamic understandings of human nature, the self, and the soul can inform an Islamic psychotherapy.

Drawing on a qualitative, grounded theory analysis of interviews with Islamic scholars and clinicians, this unique volume distils complex religious concepts to reconcile Islamic theology with contemporary notions of psychology. Chapters offer nuanced explanations of relevant Islamic tradition and theological sources, consider how this relates to Western notions of psychotherapy and common misconceptions, and draw uniquely on first-hand data to develop a new theory of Islamic psychology. This, in turn, informs an innovative and empirically driven model of practice that translates Islamic understandings of human psychology into a clinical framework for Islamic psychotherapy.

An outstanding scholarly contribution to the modern and emerging discipline of Islamic psychology, this book makes a pioneering contribution to the integration of the Islamic sciences and clinical mental health practice. It will be a key resource for scholars, researchers, and practicing clinicians with an interest in Islamic psychology and Muslim mental health, as well as religion, spirituality and psychology more broadly.

Author’s Note

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Abdal Hakim Murad

1: Beyond Islamization: Re-envisioning Western Psychotherapy within an Indigenous Psychological Paradigm

2: Islam and Psychology: The Development of a New Field

Reflection 1: A Journey of the Soul, A Journey to Islam

3: Grounded Theory and Theology: A Methodological Approach to Constructing a Religiously Inspired Theoretical Framework

Reflection 2: A Believer and a Scholar

4: An Islamic Model of the Soul: Theoretical Foundations for Islamic Psychology and Psychotherapy

Reflection 3: In the field: A Finite Pool of Clinicians and a Sea of Reluctant Scholars

5: The Nature and Structure of the Soul: Therapeutic Conceptualisations in Islamic Psychotherapy

Reflection 4: The Analytic Process: A Symphony of Voices with One Conductor

6: Stages and Development of the Soul: The Clinical Scope of Islamic Psychotherapy

7: Reflections Upon a Framework for an Islamic Psychology and Psychotherapy: An Agenda for Researchand Practice

Reflection 5: An Unwitting Academic in a New World of Theoretical Possibility

Abdallah Rothman is Executive Director of the International Association of Islamic Psychology, US and Principal at Cambridge Muslim College, UK.