A Counsellor‐Led Evaluation of Islamic Counselling's Impact on Anxiety and Depression Experienced by Muslim Clients

ABSTRACT Context UK Muslims are a growing proportion of the population who often experience complex mental health presentations while having the poorest mental health outcomes across faiths from standard cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions. Islamic psychology is a new development that addresses psychology as a psychospiritual phenomenon; Islamic counselling is a therapeutic approach within this field. Objectives The current study explores the immediate outcomes of the Islamic psychological intervention, Islamic Counselling, in relation to anxiety and depression, through a counsellor‐led assessment of its impact. Methods Counsellors compared the Generalised Anxiety Disorder‐7 (GAD‐7) and Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 (PHQ‐9) scores before and after six to eight sessions of Islamic Counselling with 52 Muslim clients from three East London boroughs. Fifty of these clients presented with anxiety with depression. Results During the intervention, average GAD‐7 scores across the three boroughs dropped from 14 to 8, moderate to mild anxiety, and average PHQ‐9 scores across the three boroughs dropped from 15 to 9, moderately severe to mild depression, a fall of two thresholds. Following the results, the paper discusses the context of Muslim psychological health, specific factors regarding the nature of client presentations in this evaluation, and implications of this research. There were no ethical considerations in this evaluation.