During an era when mental health ailments were vastly
misunderstood and feared by much of the world with
accusations of demonic possessions to vilification of
mental health patients, Muslim physicians and scholars
approached the human mind with compassion and
scientific principles. The Islamic Golden Age (8th – 13th
Century) shaped critical foundations in the treatment of
mental health, from Baghdad to Andalusia. The
introduction of the earliest psychiatric wards was
founded in Islamic hospitals, where some of the primary
concepts of modern psychotherapy were born to treat
disorders of the mind as medical ailments, a pioneering
concept at such a time. This poster revisits the legacy of
those like Al-Razi, Ibn Sina, and Al-Balkhi, who not only
recognised mental disorders but developed treatment
strategies centuries ahead of their time. Their holistic
approach—balancing mind, body, and soul – offers
timeless learning points for the field of modern
psychiatric medicine and draws some interesting parallels
to the Quranic approach to mental health.
References
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