A Comparative Study on Phobia and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Belhi and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Abstract

This study includes the comparison of the approach of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is accepted as the most effective method in the treatment of phobic and obsessive-compulsive disorder today, and the views of Abu Zayd Ahmed Al-Balkhi’s in this manner, a Muslim thinker. The study presenting a conceptual study feature; the treatment methods suggested by Balkhi were linked with the treatment methods of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which has been included in the psychology literatüre since the 1980s and is still mainstream, and the literature review method has been used. In the article, firstly comparative definitions of phobic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), followed by their etiology and lastly, their treatments are included, for this purpose Balkhi's work named “Sustenance of the Body and Soul” (Masalih Al Abdan waal-Anfus) and constituent works of CBT are taken. As a result, it has been observed that there are similarities with the propositions in Belhi's studies in the methods of reconstruction of cognitive distortions suggested by CBT for two diseases, exposure for phobia and occupational therapy for OCD and alternative thinking development methods. For all that, Belhi's establishing of "not being alone" in OCD differs partially from the basic principles of CBT.

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Keywords: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Abu Zayd Ahmed al-Balkhi, Phobia, Al-Fazaa, OCD, Waswasa.