Polishing the Mirror: Mental Health from a Bahá’í Perspective

While various authors have explored multiple religious theories of mental health in an effort to become more responsive to clients’ needs, there is a dearth of information on the Bahá’í conception of this important subject despite the faith’s growth across the world. This article will present a Bahá’í perspective on mental health by examining the faith’s basic tenets and teachings, its affinities and dissimilarities with various traditional psychotherapeutic theories, its views on psychological functioning, and its sources of healing. Common therapeutic issues of Bahá’ís will also be explored to aid counselors in conceptualizing and treating these clients.