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- QUESTION
CASE STUDY:
"Maya is a 42-year-old Muslim woman who was referred to an Islamic women’s center for advocacy and counseling. She has been married to Asad, a 44-year-old physician, for 18 years. Maya is the stay-at-home mother of their three children, aged 10, 12, and 14. Both Maya and Asad are originally from Egypt, having immigrated to the United States shortly after getting married. Maya reports that she and her husband have always been devout Muslims, being very involved in their local mosque. They have had what she considers a traditional Muslim marriage, where her husband is the leader of the home and provides for the family financially, and Maya takes care of the home and the children. For the majority of their marriage Maya believes that their marriage has been a good one. She believes that her husband was always very respectful of her and relied on her wisdom and input in making decisions impacting the family, particularly with regard to the children. Because Maya was an accountant prior to getting married, Asad has relied on her to help with financial matters related to his medical practice. Maya reported that about five years ago Asad began to “bring his work home with him,†which led to an increase in his general irritability and frustration. In the last two years Maya noted that he began to become more controlling of her whereabouts, getting angry with her if he could not reach her at a moment’s notice. She did not reach out then because she believed Asad when he said that it was his right to control her in this manner. Although Maya’s father did not behave in this manner, she began to believe that perhaps she needed to endure Asad’s behavior in order to be a good Muslim wife. Maya shared that in the past few months his aggression had escalated to the point of screaming at her, both at home and in public, backing her into corners. His drinking has escalated as well. The incident that prompted Maya to finally reach out for help occurred after she refused to sleep with Asad because he was extremely intoxicated and verbally abusing her. Asad became irate and began beating her, citing his right per the Qur’an (4:34–35). Maya initially went to the Imam at her mosque, who supported her completely and also explained that her husband’s use of the Qur’an was a misinterpretation. He explained that Islam did not in any way condone abuse. He provided her with a considerable amount of information regarding the “cycle of violence†and services in the community for victims of domestic violence, including support groups for both adults and children. Maya contacted the Muslim women’s center that day and saw a counselor later in the week. During Maya’s first counseling center she expressed relief that her community was so supportive of her, but she expressed sadness as well because the information and resources she received seemed so fatalistic and hopeless. Her counselor explained that her husband was acting in a manner inconsistent with the will of Allah and if he was truly committed to following Islam and being a good Muslim husband and father, then perhaps he would be open to receiving counseling as well. Domestic violence, the counselor explained, not only destroyed everyone in the family but also affected the entire community, thus the Muslim community was as concerned about Asad as it was about Maya. During counseling Maya began to understand the underlying dynamics of her husband’s behavior and gained wisdom regarding the difference between a husband who led his family with respect, as described by Muhammad, and the controlling and abusive behavior exhibited by her husband. As Maya gained confidence in herself and her decisions, she felt strongly that Allah was leading her to be strong for the sake of her family. Strength, according to her counselor, meant that she could not tolerate abuse. Asad met with the Imam for several weeks and then reluctantly agreed to attend a one-year anger management program that was led by an Imam at the community Islamic center, and Maya agreed not to make any decisions about whether to consider a divorce until after Asad had finished his program. Both the Imam and the counselor agreed that family counseling should not occur until after Asad had received enough counseling to recognize that the root of the family and marital problems lay within him. As Maya continued counseling, she began to realize the intergenerational cycle of abuse that existed in her husband’s family and how important it was, particularly for the sake of her children, that she become strong enough to break the cycle. The most difficult aspect of this process for Maya was maintaining good boundaries with Asad and realizing that he had the choice not to change, which would force her hand in a sense, forcing her to leave the marriage to avoid repeating the patterns of abuse.Explain why the faith-based intervention was successful in this case study. Determine what conditions would cause a human service professional to integrate faith-based interventions into the counseling strategy. Support your research findings with at least two journal articles (APA format)
| Subject | Religion | Pages | 4 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Faith-Based Intervention in Solving Family and Marital Problems
Professional counselling is majorly concerned with the wellbeing of an individual. In this respect, it is tailored to enact desirable behavioral change of an individual. Usually, as a way of life, Muslims do not disregard psychological health issues. However, Islam encourages Muslims to attain well-being through their religion (Sabry & Vohra, 2013). They deeply presume that there can be no significant change if religiosity is disregarded in enacting personal transformation. This write up demonstrates the need to bridge the gap between the professional expertise in addressing mental health issues with the spiritual beliefs of the patient. For satisfactory results, Muslims should not only incline to their religion in the quest for solutions for mental health issues, but should also seek the assistance of the human service professionals.
As discussed in the case study, Maya and Asad are staunch Muslims. Their beliefs are deeply rooted in Islam and it is for this reason that both couples assumed their wifely and husbandly roles respectively in the early years of their marriage. As such, Asad provided for the family while Maya took care of the children. Love and support was evident in their family as Asad would oftentimes involve his wife in management of the family income. However, hell broke loose when Asad became patronizing per se. This was worsened by the fact that he indulged into alcoholism. This hugely contributed to Maya being battered senselessly, an action that prompted her to seek religious assistance of the Imam who gave her religious doctrines that proved that her husband misinterpreted the Quran. The Imams religious assistance did not involve Asad and for this reason it never addressed the gist part of the conflict which majorly originated from him. It was for this reason that Maya sought further help from the women center. The profile of the Maya actions illustrates her satisfactory assistance was almost certain when she contacted a counsellor.
The role of faith based intervention was very helpful for Maya as she was able to understand the behavior of her husband better. The conflict in question involved a couple who were deeply entrenched in Islamic beliefs and to address their issues, whether on a professional or a friendly dimension, one needed to ground their advice first from their religious doctrines. Asad feigned to batter his wife on the basis that it was permissible by Quran which was a clear misinterpretation as explained by the Imam. Therefore, a perfect blending of the professional advice with the spiritual beliefs that she obtained from the Imam and the Islam Women center brought forth a sense of composure which she lacked. The situation is abated when Asad received counselling from the Imam and further enrolled in the anger management sessions. Such a well-blended approach was a reason for Maya to be hesitant to file for divorce since she felt that there was a chance for her husband to redeem his behavior.
There are some conditions that would require a human service profession to integrate faith based intervention into counselling strategy. Firstly, the professional would find it wiser to ground his/her strategy to the religious doctrines of the client if the root cause of the problem is religious fanaticism. As such, the counsellor would partner with other religious leaders in a quest to clarify the misinterpretations that led to misunderstandings. On the other hand, a human service profession would consider grounding his professional advice on religious grounds of the customer if their culture does not encourage enacting personal transformation without basing it on religiosity (Tareq, 2014). As illustrated by the case study, such an approach yields better results in such conditions.
Conclusively, Maya and Asad were living a happy life before Asad indulged into alcoholism. Their conflict was furthered by the religious fanaticism of Asad which was a justification for battering his wife. As evidenced by the case study, spiritual help required the backing of human service profession. In a bid to obtain the desirable results, the counselor grounded his counsel on the religious beliefs of the patient.
References
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Sabry, W., & Vohra, A. (2013). Role of Islam in the management of Psychiatric disorders. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705684/ Tareq, Z. (2014). Conceptual and Practical Understanding of Counselling in Islam. Malysian Journal of Counselling. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261436978_CONCEPTUAL_AND_PRACTICAL_UNDERSTANDING_OF_COUNSELING_IN_ISLAM
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