ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY AROUND THE GLOBE pdf download

Islamic psychology around the globe by Abdallah Rothman

ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY AROUND THE GLOBE

Book’s foreword

The thoughtful and evidence-based integration of religion, spirituality, and psychology during the past century has been a rather bumpy ride.

Although several of psychology’s founding influencers were very interested and encouraging about this area of both research and clinical practice (e.g., William James) others were certainly not (e.g., John Watson, Albert Ellis, Sigmund Freud). Psychology has been mostly a proudly secular field with the majority of psychologists being generally dismissive of religion and spirituality and with too many perceiving these interests and engagement as a sign of psychopathology.

Thankfully, a sizeable minority of psychologists, who are both skilled researchers and outstanding clinicians, have bucked this trend and have conducted high-quality research and offered evidence-based clinical practice approaches to the integration of religion, spirituality, and psychology.

 The division of the American Psychological Association that highlights these particular interests (i.e., Division 36, the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality) has about 1,000 diverse members from across the globe.

They also offer a fast-growing and prestigious peer-reviewed professional journal, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, published by the American Psychological Association. Other related professional journals published by the American Psychological Association, such as Spirituality in Clinical Practice, have also been expanding rapidly too.

 While there is much good news to report on the explosion of interest in the integration of religion, spirituality, and psychology, we still have a very long way to go. One problem is that the majority of research and practice work thus far has highlighted some, but not all, of the major wisdom and faith traditions.

Much research and practice guidelines have emerged from the Christian tradition and more specifically from the Protestant and evangelical branches of the Christian faith tradition. Certainly, research and practice have been offered from the other Christian branches such as Roman Catholic and Mormon traditions, but the majority of work produced thus far is from the Christian, broadly defined,