Evaluation of Abu Zayd al-Balhī's views on mental health and depression treatment according to cognitive therapy

Psychological well-being, happiness, avoiding psychological disturbances to live a healthy and mentally healthy life. These are the subjects that modern people are in search of today's people living in stressful environment. It is seen that psychological disturbances are mentioned as much as the physical disorders in the society. The most common psychological disorder is depression. Depression appears as the notion of sadness in Islamic philosophers. Overcoming sadness has been a subject that the Islamic philosophers have focused on, since it has prevented the achievement of happiness, the greatest purpose of man. Abu Zayd al-Balhī, one of the Islamic thinkers, expressed his views on depression and treatment under the title of "Arrangements Regarding the Elimination of Sadness and Corcern" in his work, Mesāliḥu'l-ebdān ve'l-enfus. In this study, Belhi's views on the treatment of depression were evaluated in the light of cognitive therapy. Belhi's advices for overcoming depression are in harmony with the methods of cognitive psychotherapy that are effectively applied today. It is seen that the alternative ideas that he recommends aim at removing the cognitive distortions seen in depressive patients and placing logical and consistent thoughts in their place.