Blog
Share your insights, research, and stories to inspire and empower our community.
Our blog is a hub for engaging and evidence-based resources tailored to the needs of the Muslim community. This is your opportunity to share your insights, research, and experiences with a global audience while contributing to mental health awareness and advocacy.
Exploring the Darkness: Self-Harm and Drug Use in Muslim Youth
Stigma surrounding mental health is something that every community deals with, even in this current day and age. These stigmas are even more pronounced in traditional religious communities where mental illness gets chalked up to supernatural entities. As a result, many individuals in Muslim communities, especially the youth, do not get the attention they need in order to properly and safely tackle mental health issues. Two issues that are relevant in the lives of many Muslim youth today are self-harm and substance abuse. These two issues, already a serious global health and medical problem affecting people of many backgrounds, are highly stigmatized within Muslim populations. This leads to a lack of self-reporting and subsequently, a lack of treatment for those harming themselves physically or through repeated drug use.
Read MoreBehind Closed Doors: Porn and Young Muslims
There is a lack of education and available resources for addressing sexuality with young Muslims in an age-appropriate manner and through an Islamic lens. This becomes worrisome when students are opted out of sex-education classes at school with no alternative education at home or in Islamic institutions. Muslim parents are not fully equipped to have the ‘birds and the bees’ talk with their children and this becomes problematic when curiosity outside the classroom leads to the dark web.
Read MoreWe invite mental health professionals and community members to contribute by sharing insights, research, and relevant resources. Email your submissions to blog.editor@muslimmentalhealth.com.
Learn about our Blog Structure and Submission Guidelines to get started.