Baseer Maroof, LCSW · Raleigh, NC · Adults 21+
Faith and therapy
Not rivals. Where CBT, ACT and DBT meet older wisdom, and where they part ways.
Bridges between therapy and the tradition
Pick a therapy.
Therapy ↔ tradition
Pick a therapy to see where it meets older ideas, and where they differ.
Spiritual bypassing
“The only way out is through.”
Support or bypass?
Read each sentence. Is faith helping to face the pain, or to skip it?
What is spiritual bypass?
Counselors Craig Cashwell and colleagues describe spiritual bypass as using spiritual beliefs or practices to avoid dealing with painful feelings, unresolved wounds or real needs. It can sound very pious. It usually keeps the pain stuck. (Cashwell 2007)
What research says
Tap a row for details.
Religious CBTPilot trialAbout as good as conventional CBT.
In a pilot randomized trial of people with depression and chronic illness, religiously integrated CBT worked about as well as conventional CBT, and slightly better for more religious participants. (Koenig 2015)
Faith-informed cognitive restructuringDescribedA faith-informed version has been described.
Hamdan described how CBT’s cognitive restructuring can be carried out using concepts and texts from the tradition. (Hamdan 2008)
ACT and murāqabaDescribedAcceptance and awareness, in theory.
Writers have described how ACT fits with values and acceptance in the tradition (Tanhan 2019), and how murāqaba might work as a mindfulness-based practice, while warning that clinicians need proper training (Isgandarova 2019).
Most of this is theory and early research. The core therapies themselves have strong evidence, so faith-integration is best thought of as making good therapy fit you better.
You lead
Faith in therapy, on your terms.
A gentle note: education, not rulings or diagnosis
These pages are education, written to be welcoming whether you practice, are questioning, or simply curious. They are not religious rulings (fatwas) and not a diagnosis. For questions of what is permitted or required, ask a qualified scholar. For your health, see a licensed clinician. Often the best care involves both.
Sources
All sources, linked10 references⌄
- Cashwell CS, Bentley PB, Yarborough JP. The only way out is through: the peril of spiritual bypass. Counseling and Values 2007;51:139–148. doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-007x.2007.tb00071.x
- Koenig HG et al. Religious vs. conventional cognitive behavioral therapy for major depression in persons with chronic medical illness: a pilot randomized trial. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2015;203:243–251. doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000273
- Hamdan A. Cognitive restructuring: an إسلامي perspective. Journal of مسلم Mental Health 2008;3:99–116. doi.org/10.1080/15564900802035268
- Tanhan A. Acceptance and commitment therapy with ecological systems theory: addressing مسلم mental health issues and wellbeing. Journal of Positive School Psychology 2019;3(2):197–219. doi.org/10.47602/jpsp.v3i2.172
- Isgandarova N. Muraqaba as a mindfulness-based therapy in إسلامي psychotherapy. Journal of Religion and Health 2019;58:1146–1160. doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0695-y
- Abu Zayd al-Balkhī. Sustenance of the Soul: The Cognitive Behavior Therapy of a Ninth Century Physician (Maṣāliḥ al-Abdān wa al-Anfus). Translated and annotated by Malik Badri. IIIT, 2013. doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh4zfhk
- al-Ghazālī. On Disciplining the Soul and on Breaking the Two Desires (Books 22–23 of the Iḥyā’). Translated by T. J. Winter. 1995. www.its.org.uk/catalogue/al-ghazali-on-disciplining-the-soul-and-o…
- Jāmi‘ al-Tirmidhī 2517 (from Anas ibn Malik), graded ḥasan (Darussalam). sunnah.com
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1303 (from Anas ibn Malik). sunnah.com
- Qur’an, Yūsuf 12:84 and 12:86. English: Sahih International. quran.com/12/84
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