Islamic psychology and Islamically integrated psychotherapy

Domain VII · Transpersonal, psychedelic & altered states · Hooman Keshavarzi, Fahad Khan, Carrie York Al-Karam · 2013 · Chicago

What it is

"Islamic psychology" is a field, not a single therapy. Al-Karam describes it as "primarily a domain" that develops theoretical and applied psychology rooted in Islam, with overlapping strands: Islamic accounts of the self (fitrah, nafs, qalb), Islamically integrated therapy, early Muslim…

Format

• Session count and format. TIIP is individual outpatient therapy (couples, family and child work appear in the wider IIP literature). In the Khalil Center sample, clients attended 1–24 sessions, mean 4.4, and only 10% exceeded 10 sessions. No fixed course length is published. Weekly 50-minute…
• What it is. "Islamic psychology" is a field, not a single therapy. Al-Karam describes it as "primarily a domain" that develops theoretical and applied psychology rooted in Islam, with overlapping strands: Islamic accounts of the self (fitrah, nafs, qalb), Islamically integrated therapy, early…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Assessment and case conceptualisation. Assessment is the subject of Ch. 5 of the TIIP text, Fahad Khan's "Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment of the Ontological Domains of the Psyche in TIIP". It presents case-conceptualisation models covering the cognitive, emotional, behavioural, spiritual and social aspects of the psyche, with quantitative and qualitative methods. TIIP trainings also teach "5 assessment…
• Sources include: the chapter list and authors of Keshavarzi et al. (2020) (Routledge contents page), TIIP's history and three-level training structure (HBKU abstract of Khan, Aycan & Keshavarzi 2023), TIIP's non-manualised, two-track approach (TCSPP CE course KC 3), documented meditation adverse effects (Lindahl et al. 2017 and case reports, via Brown University and Meditating in Safety summaries), and reported…
• Status. Evidence is preliminary: one uncontrolled practice-based study (107 clients, 5 therapists). Khalil Center, an Islamically oriented outpatient centre near Chicago, uses TIIP as its dominant modality for trauma, depression, anxiety, OCD and marital discord. Training is a three-level curriculum: Level I (foundations), Level II (advanced application) and Level III (clinical supervision), followed by…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the meditation adverse effects documented in E2, applied here by extrapolation.
• clients treating a dream as a divine command for a risky action. Assess safety.
• doubts handled as pathology. Normalise them, and refer theological questions on request.
• "reassurance" that feeds OCD (see D3). Give the information once, then stop repeating it.
• flooding (see section 5). It is working when the client starts naming patterns themselves.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.