The state of the therapist

January 5, 2024

Dr. Abdallah Rothman gave a talk on the state of the therapist’s heart in Islamic psychotherapy at the Symposium on Psychology and Spirituality in Istanbul March 4, 2019. In this short presentation he discusses the position of an Islamic psychotherapist as innately involving an aspect of spiritual guidance given the nature of the domain of the soul. Considering this, Dr. Abdallah suggests that it becomes an ethical obligation of the therapist to be constantly engaged in a process of tazkiyat an nafs (purification of the soul) and that beyond therapeutic technique, a significant factor in the therapeutic relationship is the state of the therapist’s heart for acting as a clear mirror for the client.