By Rusnanee Kareema
GOMBAK, 8 December 2019: A talk entitled “How to Handle Mental Health Problems with Regards to Maqasid Shari’ah” highlighted current issues of IIUM students’ mental illness and how they should deal with the problems.
The main speaker of this seminar was Khairah Abdul Razak, a psychology officer of IIUM’s Counselling and Career Services Centre (CCSC) who emphasised mental health awareness among IIUM students that have reached concerning levels.
She stated that there were three main mental health cases that have been found among IIUM students which were depression, anxiety, and stress trauma, which needed to be solved.
She encouraged students to use the following tips in pursuit of mental health: acknowledge that they are under stress, to not push themselves to eliminate it totally, identify the positive side of the stress, relax themselves and manage the stress properly.
Commenting on the sources of mental health problems, Khairah said, “Stress is the initiative cause of having mental health problems that can lead to mental illness which impacts biological and physical reaction.”
“Knowing our personality is important to achieve a healthy balance when it comes to managing stress, our aim is not to totally remove the stress but to balance it,” Khairah reminded.
At the end of seminar, she provided a way to understand stress according to Islam, highlighting that we have limited capacity and weakness, and said “we must hold onto the One who is strong and reliable”. “Indeed, the best helper is Allah,” she said.
“We all are human beings and it is alright to not feel okay. Acknowledge your feelings and solve them,” she mentioned before ending her speech, encouraging students who feel stressed out to go and use the services of CCSC IIUM to better their mental health.
The seminar was organised by Nan Noorhidayu Binti Megat Laksana, a lecturer from the Department of Fiqh and Usul Fiqh with the aim to increase students’ awareness of mental health.
This seminar was held on Friday (6 December) at ADM LT 4, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS). ***