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Perception of Allah Among

Schizophrenics and Depressives
a
Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi PhD & Mobushra Rehman
b
MSc
a
Department of Applied Psychology , University of
the Punjab , Lahore , Pakistan
b
Center for Clinical Psychology , University of the
Punjab , Lahore , Pakistan
Published online: 10 Jul 2012.

To cite this article: Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi PhD & Mobushra Rehman MSc (2001)
Perception of Allah Among Schizophrenics and Depressives, American Journal of
Pastoral Counseling, 4:4, 57-70, DOI: 10.1300/J062v04n04_05

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 Perception of Allah Among
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Schizophrenics and Depressives:

Unipolars and Bipolars
Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi, PhD
Mobushra Rehman, MSc

ABSTRACT. This study investigates perception of God (Allah) as re-

ported by the Pakistani Muslim Schizophrenics and Depressives
(Unipolars and Bipolars) in the context of their positive and negative life
events. A sample of 75 psychiatric patients (30 schizophrenics, 30 bipo-
lar depressives and 15 unipolar depressives) within the age range of
25-40 years was drawn from psychiatry departments of various hospi-
tals of Lahore, Pakistan. All the subjects were hospitalized for the past
fifteen years. A multiple-choice questionnaire was constructed to mea-
sure the subjects’ perception of God (Allah) in the context of their posi-
tive and negative life events based on the questionnaire of Farooqi and
Mahmood (1999). The results suggest that schizophrenics and bipolar
depressives manifest more negative perception of God than the unipolar
depressives. (t = 3.59, df = 58, *p < .05 and t = 2.14, df = 48, *p < .05, re-
spectively). However, the schizophrenics and bipolar depressives did
not show significant difference in their negative perception of God (Al-
lah) (t = 1.35, df = 58, p < .05). Furthermore, the results suggests a neg-
ative relationship between perception of God (Allah) and ritual

Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi is Associate Professor, Department of Applied Psychol-

ogy, University of the Punjab, Lahore-Pakistan.
Mobushra Rehman is a Student of ADCP (Part I), Center for Clinical Psychology,
University of the Punjab, Lahore-Pakistan.
American Journal of Pastoral Counseling, Vol. 4(4) 2001
 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 57
 58 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PASTORAL COUNSELING

activities of schizophrenics, unipolar and bipolar depressives (rsc =

0.0472; rud = 0.407; rbd = 0.137). [Article copies available for a fee from The
Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address:
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<getinfo@haworthpressinc.com> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2001

by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Mental health, hospitalization, Muslim, Pakistan, reli-

gion, beliefs, theology, psychology of religion

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The present research is a comparative study of perception of God
(Allah) in the context of positive and negative life events as reported by
the adult Muslim Pakistani schizophrenics and depressives (unipolar
and bipolar depressives).

INTRODUCTION
Religion is a very complex and rich area of human life. It is as old as
human civilization. Religious beliefs and religious participation have
been found to be negatively associated with such diverse problems as
crime and delinquency (Start, 1996); substance abuse (Gorsuch, 1995);
depression and anxiety (Ellison, 1994). According to Koenig and Larson
(1998) religious persons experience not only greater well being and
higher life satisfaction but less anxiety and depression, lower rates of
suicide, less loneliness, less alcoholism and better adaptation to stress
than people without ‘spiritual resources.’
Hurlock (1964) explains religion as a desire for help, security, faith
and consolidation not given by the world and emotional reaction of
reverational sort. Armstrong (1993) writes that human beings can also
be termed as spiritual beings. She further concludes that “ . . . indeed
Homo sapiens is also Homo religious” (Armstrong 1993; p. 3). Accord-
ing to Clay (1996) a religious faith may actually enhance mental health.
He further discusses Kirkpatrick’s research work on attachment to God
which reveals that mental health outcomes depend on the way people
view their relationship with God. It has been found that those who
viewed God as a warm, caring and dependable friend were much more
likely to have positive outcomes than those who viewed Him as a cold,
revengeful and carefree deity. There is sufficient empirical evidence
that suggests that the people who classified their attachment to God as
 Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi and Mobushra Rehman 59

“Secure” scored much lower on loneliness, depression and anxiety but

much higher on general life satisfaction (Koenig & Larson, 1998;
Gorsuch, 1995; Ellison, 1994).
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Across the globe, many philosophers, psychologists and theologians

are trying to explore and understand the relationship between God and
human beings. Although conceptions of God have varied considerably,
depending on the historical period, culture and sect, a belief in a Holy
Being has been predominant in almost all societies through history.
Many religious thinkers have held that since God is so different from fi-
nite beings, he must be considered essentially a mystery and beyond hu-
man comprehensions. Nevertheless, some theologians believe that a
limited knowledge of God is possible and have formulated different
concepts in terms of Divine Attributes among other notions. In mono-
theism, God is considered to be having perfect attributes such as infini-
tude, immutability, eternity, goodness, knowledge (omniscience) and
power (omnipotent). Certain character traits similar to human traits,
such as, love, anger, and forgiveness are also ascribed to God. Keeping
in view the Islamic point of view, the name Allah means simply ‘the
God.’ He is personal, transcendent and unique, and Muslims are forbid-
den to depict Him in any creaturely form. Islam postulates that Allah
has seven basic attributes: life, knowledge, power, will, hearing, vision
and speech whereas the last three are not to be understood in an anthro-
pomorphic sense (www.Britannica.com). The Islamic philosophy as
given in the Holy Book of Quran depicts a God (Allah) as Life-giver,
Slayer, Exalter, Abaser, Forgiver and Avenger (Murrata & Chittick,
1998).
The current research is based upon the Muslim population. The reli-
gion of Islam teaches that God is the Creator and the Ruler of this uni-
verse. To be a Muslim is to surrender oneself to Allah (God) in the sense
that He is the only Creator, Nourisher and Sustainer, etc. Therefore, Is-
lam stands for complete submission and obedience to God (Allah) and it
considers associating any deity or personality with God (Allah) as a
deadly sin, which God (Allah) will never forgive, despite the fact, He
may forgive all other sins. Nevertheless, Muslims believe that all hu-
man beings are endowed with freedom and choice in their conscious de-
cision to obey God (Allah). Broadly speaking, Islam presents God
(Allah) as an attachment figure Who loves His creatures seventy times
more than a mother (Bukhari, 1985). Therefore, it can be argued that the
type of perception of God (Allah) in Muslim population may manifest
their attachment style with God (Allah) in the context of the positive
 60 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PASTORAL COUNSELING

and negative events of their lives. Thus, it may be clinically valuable to

explore and understand the perceptions of God (Allah) of schizophren-
ics and depressives in Pakistani society, which is predominantly Mus-
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lim. However, it would be rather difficult to determine whether mental

illness would influence their perception of God (Allah) or the latter
would leave an impact on their type of mental illness.
In the present research, schizophrenics’ and depressives’ percep-
tion of God (Allah) has been studied. Moreover, an attempt has been
made to explore whether there is any relationship between negative
perception of God and ritualistic activities of the patients. Paplia and
Olds (1990) define attachment as an active, affectionate and recipro-
cal relationship between two people and their interaction reinforces
and strengthens the bond. They further refer to Ainsworth’s work which
suggest attachment as an essential part of human growth and that results
in an infant’s attachment to his/her mother figure. However, that figure
does not to be a biological mother, but may be any one who acts as a pri-
mary caregiver. One of the ninety-nine names of Allah depicts Him as a
caregiver for all irrespective of color, gender, race, geographical or
other diversities.
According to Bowlby (1973) the need for attachment to another hu-
man being is as necessary as food and is based on instinctive origins.
The attachment theory has generated a great deal of research on the psy-
chology of religion (Kirkpatrick, 1997). The stability in the attachment
organization has been referred to the existence of the child’s internal
working models of relationship, which are assumed to originate from
and reflect the quality of the child’s care-giver attachment patterns.
Therefore, it may be possible to conceptualize part of the adult’s reli-
giousness, such as perceived personal relationship with God, as a phe-
nomenon that is reflected to the quality of the adult’s attachment
history.
The proposed link between the parent child relationships and the
adult’s religiousness has been suggested from several psychodynamic
perspectives beginning with Freud (as cited in Granquist, 1998), who
proposed that God was merely an illusory and regressive projection of
the child’s earthly father.
Other theorists in this tradition, including Rizzuto (1998) and Erickson
(1968) also applied their theoretical perspective to explain this assumed
link. Erickson (1968) argues that the all human beings have the same
basic needs and that each society must provide in some way for those
needs. He further states that the teenager must achieve identity in gen-
der roles, politics and religion. Thus, he/she may resolve developmental
 Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi and Mobushra Rehman 61

crises of ‘Identity versus Confusion’ through religion. Rizzuto (as cited

in Hall, Brokaw, Edwards & Pike, 1998) proposed that an individ-
ual’s perception of God is an amalgam of the representation of
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his/her primary introjects. Furthermore, God’s perception is contin-

ually transferred and shaped throughout developmental process as
new experiences are brought to the internal representational matrix.
Cole-Detke and Kobak (1996) further explain that an individual’s his-
tory of interaction with an attachment figure leads to systematic differ-
ences in how the individual attends to and copes with distress related
cues. Thus, it can be argued that a Muslim’s perception of God (Allah)
and spiritual-emotional attachment with Allah may leave an impact on
person’s coping strategies and capacity to handle daily life problems.
According to Yeaxlee (1962) religion begins in the parent-child rela-
tionship and in development of attitudes, attachment and responses
through the socialization process. These ideas will ultimately go far to
determine one’s conception of the nature of God (Allah) and attitudes
toward Him, as in the depths of one’s life he/she would apprehend and
perceive Him. If a child whose experience of fatherhood or motherhood
during its infancy has been unfortunate, in his/her later life, may de-
velop and antipathy to religion and negative perception of God (Allah).
It may be argued that, Islam as a religion may provide solace and
strength to Muslims in the moments of Despair and frustration as do
other religions, such as, Judaism, Christianity and Buddhism. At the
same time, such a belief system when internalized and practiced in a
harsh and dogmatic fashion may contribute to a critical, self-condemn-
ing and insecure attitude towards oneself and others. So in the same way
negative perception of God (Allah) transmitted to us through our social-
ization process and religious teachings remains unspoken but continu-
ously carried within us. Consequently, it may influence the way we
perceive ourselves, others, our future and how we cope with our stress-
ful life events. Thus, it may influence one’s mental health and the type
of mental illness that one may develop during one’s life span.
Wells (1964) explains that a “healthy minded” religious person sees
life as good and looks optimistically on the whole ongoing process.
Whereas, mentally ill persons usually have a warped view of the world
in which they live (Vaughan, 1962). It has been observed that when
mental illness strikes; it interferes with happiness and efficiency of the
person and it seriously hinders one’s spiritual growth and adjustment to
everyday life events. Thus, it may be argued that mental illnesses can
and do profoundly influence an individual’s relationship with God (Al-
 62 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PASTORAL COUNSELING

lah) just as one’s perception of God (Allah) may influence the type of
hallucinations, delusions and/or mental illness.
Dolors (1989) argues that religious life is intimately concerned with
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psychological life. Prayers, meditation, the vows, virtues all are primar-
ily mental in nature, not physical. So there is a greater demand for men-
tal equilibrium to have a balanced religious life.
Handal, Wanda-Marie and Stephanie (1989) investigated the rela-
tionship between religion and mental distress. Their findings suggest
that religion plays an important role in the adjustment of the individual.
Ellison (1991) has examined the relationship between religious in-
volvement and subjective well-being. Results indicate that individuals
with strong religious faith reported a higher level of life satisfaction,
greater personal happiness, and fewer negative psychosocial conse-
quences of traumatic life events.
In our traditional Pakistani society, religion plays a vital role in
daily life activities. Thus, it can be stated that Islamic beliefs about
God (Allah), life and people seem to contribute to a person’s health
and balanced life: physical, social, mental and spiritual health. It may
be argued that one’s perception of God (Allah) can be used as an indi-
cator of his/her mental health during critical life events. El Azayem
and Hedayat-Diba (1994) delineates the background and basic princi-
ples of Islam and discuss the centrality of the oneness of God (Allah)
and five pillars of faith. Psychological benefits resulting from ablution,
praying, fasting, alms giving, and pilgrimage to Mecca are noted. Psy-
chological aspects in Islamic daily life are described, including care for
the family, divorce and polygamy, concern for the welfare of parents
and the aged, and concern for learning and work. Prevention against
psychological illnesses, such as depression and suicide, sexual perver-
sions, crime and racial discrimination are also discussed. It is a general
Islamic faith that by following Islamic principles the Muslims can
achieve and enjoy better physical and psychological health as it is men-
tioned in the Holy Quran that:

Rest assured that whosoever from among the Muslims or the Jews
or the Christians or the Sebaeans believes in Allah and the last
Day, and performs good deeds, he will have his reward with his
Lord and he will have no cause for fear and grief. (2:62. Maududi,
1997; p. 3)

Note it well that it is Allah’s remembrance alone that brings com-

fort to the hearts. Blessed are those who have accepted the mes-
 Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi and Mobushra Rehman 63

sage and done righteous deeds. They have a good end. (13:28-29.
Maududi, 1997; p. 395)
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Allah has promised to those among you who believe and do righ-
teous deeds, that He will make them successors in the land just as
He made those who passed away before them, and that He will es-
tablish their religion, which He has approved for them, on strong
foundations and will change their (present) state of fear into peace
and security. Let them worship Me and associate none with Me
and the one who disbelieves after this, shall be of those who are
perverse transgressors. (55:24. Maududi, 1997; p. 565)

Allah said, “Now go down, all of you from here. Henceforth there shall
come to you guidance from Me now and again; whoever will follow it
shall have neither fear nor sorrow.” (38:2. Maududi, 1997; p. 2)

This research is an extension to Farooqi and Mahmood’s research

(1999) in which they explored perception of God among depressives
and medical patients. However, in the present research, an attempt is
made to understand the complex phenomenon of perception of God
(Allah) among schizophrenics, unipolar and bipolar depressives among
Pakistani Muslim psychiatric population and possibility of any relation-
ship between negative perceptions of God (Allah) and ritual activities
of these patients.

METHODOLOGY

The sample consisted of 75 adult Pakistani Muslims male psychiatric

patients who had already been diagnosed by their treating psychiatrists:
30 schizophrenics, 30 bipolar depressives and 15 unipolar depressives
with an age range of 25-40 years. The mean age of schizophrenics, unipo-
lar and bipolar depressives was 31 years, 32 years and 32 years, respec-
tively. Thirty-seven percent of schizophrenics were married, 60% were
unmarried and 3% were divorced, whereas among unipolar depressives
50% were married and 50% were unmarried. The average income for
schizophrenics, unipolar and bipolar depressives was Rs. 9236.6, Rs.
3973 and Rs. 5520, respectively. Other characteristics of the sample are
given in Table 1 by age, education, occupation, monthly income, etc., are
given.
 64 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PASTORAL COUNSELING

TABLE 1. Descriptive Characteristics of the Sample (N = 75)

Variables Schizophrenics Unipolars Bipolars

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Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Subject’s Age
25-28 12 40% 4 26% 12 40%
29-31 4 14% 4 27% 2 7%
32-36 7 23% 3 20% 7 23%
37-40 7 23% 4 27% 9 30%
X = 31.3 X = 32.3 X = 32
Educational Guide
2-6 10 33% 1 7% 10 33%
7-11 13 43% 9 60% 13 43%
12-16 7 24% 5 33% 7 24%
Marital Status
Married 11 37% 10 66% 15 50%
Single 18 60% 4 27% 15 50%
Divorced 1 3% 1 7% -- --
Type of Marriage
Choice 5 17% 2 13% 3 10%
Arranged 7 23% 9 60% 12 40%
Marriage
Unmarried 18 60% 4 27% 15 50%
Family System
Joint Family 26 87% 11 73% 27 90%
System
Nuclear 4 13% 4 27% 3 10%
Monthly Income
1000-2000 27 90% 15 93% 28 93%
21000-40000 -- -- -- -- --
41000-60000 3 10% -- -- 2 7%
X = 9236.6 X = 3973.3 X = 55520

Note: Percentage of each sub classification is based upon the total number of subjects in each group: Schizo-
phrenics (n = 30), unipolar depressives (n = 15) and bipolar depressives (n = 30).

All the psychiatric patients were selected from the indoor units of
psychiatry departments of different hospitals of Lahore: Jinnah Hospi-
tal, Services Hospital, Mental Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and
May Hospital Lahore, Pakistan.

INSTRUMENT
The researchers devised a questionnaire in Urdu to investigate the
type of perception of God (Allah) as reported by the Pakistani bipolar
 Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi and Mobushra Rehman 65

depressives, unipolar depressives and schizophrenics. The rationale for

this questionnaire was drawn from the basic Islamic philosophy per-
taining to attributes of God (Allah) in the context of human life events
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that are both positive and negative. The Islamic concept/image of God
(Allah) as depicted in, the ninety-nine names of God (Allah) mentioned
in the Holy Book of Qura’n and Sunnah Ahadith, such as Al-Rehman
the most Beneficent, Al-Raheem the most Merciful, Al-Jabaar the Im-
perious and Al-Qahaar the Depositic (Ashraf, 1999), were used as indi-
cators which refer to polarities in the God’s (Allah’s) image. Thus,
Muslims seem to perceive God (Allah) as warm, caring and dependable
on one side and “Abaser” and “Punitive” on the other hand.
The questionnaire of perception of God (Allah) consisted of 29
items, 19 items measured negative perception of God (Allah) while 10
items measured positive perception of God (Allah). The construct indi-
cators of negative life events such as financial crisis, psychological and
family problems, sudden accidents and deaths were used in the ques-
tionnaire of perception of God (Allah) to determine the negative per-
ception of God (Allah) of the subjects. While construct indicators in
terms of subject’s positive life events such as recovery after chronic ill-
ness, getting success, scientific and political development were consid-
ered to assist the respondent’s positive perception of God (Allah). A
pilot study was carried out to determine the face validity of the ques-
tionnaire Finally, three different psychologists as judges who were also
known as ‘Muslim Scholars’ reviewed the questionnaire. All three mu-
tually agreed on the construct validity of the Questionnaire.
Official permission was sought from the psychiatry departments of
all the five hospitals: A consent form was signed by each subject, indi-
vidually, before the individual administration of the questionnaire to
each subject.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

T-test was employed in order to determine the difference between

schizophrenics’ and depressives’ perception of God (Allah) in the con-
text of their reported positive and negative life events.
The results given in Table 2 suggest that schizophrenics manifest
more negative perception of God (Allah) than unipolar depressives
(t = 3.59, df = 58, *p < .05). Nevertheless, the analysis of Table 3
suggests that bipolar depressives tend to have more negative perception
of God (Allah) than unipolar depressives (t = 2.14, df = 48, *p < .05).
 66 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PASTORAL COUNSELING

TABLE 2. Mean Difference Between Negative Perception of God Among

Schizophrenics and Unipolar Depressives
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Groups X SD S.EDXSU t

Schizophrenics 40.8 10.41

2.99 3.59
Unipolars 30.1 8.97

t = 3.59, df = 43; *p < 0.05

Note: X = Arithmetic Mean, SD = Standard Deviation, S.EDXSU = Standard Error of difference between means of
schizophrenics and unipolar depressives.

TABLE 3. Mean Difference Between Negative Perception of God Among Bipo-

lar and Unipolar Depressives

Groups X SD S.EDXUB t

Bipolars 36.9 11.3

3.18 2.14
Unipolars 30.1 8.97

t = 2.14, df = 43; *p < 0.05

Note: X = Arithmetic Mean, SD = Standard Deviation, S.EDXUB = Standard Error of difference between means of uni-
polar and bipolar depressives.

Furthermore, the schizophrenic patients seem to perceive God (Allah)

in a significantly more negative way than the depressive patients. These
results are consistent with those of Kirkpatrick’s study discussed by
Clay (1996) who points out that those who experienced God (Allah) as a
revengeful, cold and unresponsive deity in their negative life events
have more negative perception of God (Allah) than those who viewed
Him as a warm, helpful and a dependable friend. This may be due to
some similarities in the attributes of God (Allah) as portrayed in Chris-
tianity, Islam and Judaism. However, further research work is needed to
find out whether types of perception of God (Allah) are related with
one’s relationship (positive, negative or ambivalent) with one’s own pa-
rental figures.
Table 4 exhibits that insignificant difference is found between schizo-
phrenics’ and depressives’ negative perception of God (Allah) (t = 1.35,
 Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi and Mobushra Rehman 67

TABLE 4. Mean Difference Between Negative Perception of God Among

Schizophrenics and Bipolar Depressives
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Groups X SD S.EDXSB t

Schizophrenics 40.8 10.41

2.89 1.35
Bipolars 36.9 11.93

t = 1.35, df = 58; *p < 0.05

Note: X = Arithmetic Mean, SD = Standard Deviation, S.EDXSB = Standard Error of difference between means of
schizophrenics and bipolar depressives.

df = 58, p < .05). These findings further suggest that the two groups
(schizophrenics and bipolar depressives) seem to perceive God (Allah)
in somewhat similar way in the context of their negative life events.
Thus, it can be argued that biochemical changes along with perceptual,
cognitive-affective disturbances that often occur within bipolar depres-
sives and schizophrenics with chronicity and severity of illness might
have contributed to similarities in their positive or negative perception
of God (Allah). Therefore, it can be inferred that perhaps the schizo-
phrenics and bipolar depressives have similar style of relating to God
(Allah) and perceiving the attributes of God (Allah) in the context of
their positive and negative life events.
The results given in Table 5 suggest a negative relationship between
perceptions of God and ritual activities of schizophrenics, unipolar and
bipolar depressives (rsc = ⫺0.0472; rXUD = ⫺0.407; rBD = ⫺0.137, re-
spectively). Thus, it may be inferred that the negative perception of God
is inversely related to the frequency of prayers in schizophrenics, unipo-
lar and bipolar depressives. These findings are congruent with the pre-
vious findings of Lindenha et al. (as cited in Argyle & Beit-Hallahmi,
1975), which suggest that psychologically impaired persons seemed to
be less likely to go to the church.
The current research findings suggest that the Pakistani Muslims
schizophrenics’ perceptions of God (Allah) seem to be more negative
than those of depressives. Thus, it may be inferred that Perception of
God (Allah) may be linked to type of illness. Nevertheless, we cannot
draw any causal inference from this study because it is quite possible
that different mental disorders (especially depression and schizophre-
nia), might have accounted for the negative or positive perception of
 68 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PASTORAL COUNSELING

TABLE 5. Relationship Between Negative Perception of God and Ritual Activities

(Prayers) of Schizophrenics, Unipolar Depressives and Bipolar Depressives
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Variables Schizophrenics Unipolar depressives Bipolar depressives

Negative perception ⫺0.0472 ⫺0.407 ⫺0.137
of God and ritual
activities (prayers)

Note: The results indicate that there is a negative correlation between perception of God and prayers
(r SC = ⫺01.047; rUD = ⫺0.407 and rBD = ⫺0.137, respectively) of schizophrenics, unipolar depressives and bipo-
lar depressives.

God (Allah) itself. Thus, longitudinal research work is suggested for fu-
ture work in this area.
Though some researches have been conducted in this area; none of
them can give us the complete and true perspective of the whole phe-
nomenon of perception of God (Allah) and one’s mental illness. There-
fore, it can be stated that this research is a second attempt in exploring
the relationship between mental health and perception of God in Paki-
stan. But, still much more is needed to explore in this area. The future
must focus on checking the reliability and validity of the questionnaire
constructed by the researchers. The diagnostic evaluation of schizo-
phrenics, unipolar and bipolar depressives in the current research was
somewhat questionable as different hospitals used different classifica-
tion systems and the researcher selected the subjects on the basis of their
“given diagnosis” by their treating psychiatrists. Therefore, it is strongly
recommended that in future, the researcher himself/herself should use a
uniform diagnostic criterion, preferably DSM IV (1994) along with in-
terview schedule in order to maintain the uniformity. Furthermore,
cross-cultured and cross-religious research designs are strongly recom-
mended to accomplish this goal.
Moreover, future researches must study the role of biochemical fac-
tors; gender, diverse cultures, religion and duration of various mental
illnesses to fully understand the relationship between perception of God
(Allah) and type of mental illness across the globe. This may enable the
helping professionals to introduce more effective treatment modalities
and parenting techniques in the long run.

REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of men-
tal disorders. (4th ed). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Argyle, M; & Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin. (1975). The social psychology of religion,
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 Yasmin Nilofer Farooqi and Mobushra Rehman 69

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