A Religious Approach to Maintaining Mental Health

During a pandemic like the present, a great many changes have occurred in our lives. We are required to work and study from home. Changes in circumstances like this often make people stressed because they cannot adapt to the changes that take place, and because they have less social interaction with others. This can disturb a person's mental health.
The quality of a person's life is strongly influenced by health, especially mental health, because mental health is one of the factors that most affects physical health. If mental health is not disturbed, the quality of life will be better. According to Zakiah Drajat (in Nur Ahmad, 2015), mental health is the realisation of genuine harmony among the functions of the mind, together with the ability to face various kinds of problems so as to be free from anxiety and inner conflict.

There are several kinds of mental health disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and stress. The factors that can cause mental disorders include: the demands of education and work, poor relationships with friends and family, and having experienced physical or mental violence. Mental health disorders can affect a person's state of mind, mood, and feelings. In addition, mental health disorders can also make a person unproductive. Considering the many impacts of mental health problems, an appropriate way of handling them is needed. One of them is the spiritual or religious approach.

Religion is a basic need of every human being. Without religion, the human soul will not feel calm and happiness in life. The purpose of the role of religion in mental health is to restore a disturbed psychological condition so that it can function optimally again, so that mental health becomes better and healthy once more. A person whose psychological condition neglects spiritual conduct will more easily experience mental health disorders. Therefore, the role of religion has a great influence on a person's mental health.

The religious values from the perspective of Islam that can heal and prevent mental health disorders are behaving religiously and obeying the commands of Allah SWT. Behaving religiously can be done by carrying out useful activities, always helping those who need help, and staying away from sinful activities that are forbidden by religion. By behaving religiously in daily life, we will always think positively, which can bring a particular happiness to our hearts. In this way, we do not easily suffer from mental health disorders.

Besides behaving religiously, we must also improve the quality of our worship so that mental health can be maintained. Worshipping Allah gives peace of mind to human beings. The closer a person is to their Creator and the more they worship, the calmer their soul will be and the more able they will be to face the trials given by Allah SWT. In this way, stress in facing disappointments and life's problems can be overcome. And mental health disorders do not easily come upon us.

The next religious value for maintaining mental health is frequently performing dhikr, mentioning the name of Allah. By frequently performing dhikr, the heart becomes peaceful and calm. Besides dhikr, reading the Al-Qur’an also plays an important role in maintaining mental health. The Al-Qur’an is the guide to life for Muslims; it contains guidance for humankind to distinguish the haq from the bathil. By reading the Al-Qur’an we will gain wisdom from its contents. By applying religious values in daily life and always drawing closer to Allah SWT, insyaallah our mental health will be maintained.

When we improve the quality of worship in our lives, we will become calmer in facing the various problems of life. By drawing closer to Allah we can be free from thoughts filled with anxiety, so that we can control ourselves, and mental health too can be restored quickly if we always carry out religious values. If worship is carried out with sincere intention and full of devotion, it will make the soul calm and become a therapy in itself for the human soul. In this way, our mental health will be maintained and we can avoid mental health disorders.

Newspaper: Mata Banua 
E-Paper :  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OYMRpEBuVvKERwI90sVtnQu0-NQ8XLuh/view?usp=drivesdk