Sarah Sultan – Muslim Mental Health Course – Negative Impact Of Trauma Brain On Faith

			taboo topics, session trauma and faith. So when we're thinking about trauma and the impact that it
has on our brain, right, and the struggle that our brain has to come out of survival mode, even when
we don't need to be in survival mode anymore, realizing that that can develop into really unhealthy
thought patterns, right? If your brain is constantly perceiving danger, right, your eyes are going
to look for everything that could possibly be a source of discontent, danger, dissatisfaction,
unhappiness, anxiety in your life, right. And so your brain is trained, you're training your brain,
to see all of those negatives. And then what happens when the survival mode won't shut off. It is
		

			pretty common, sometimes, really, and can be really difficult burden when that trauma brain starts
to impact your faith. And this is where a lot of times people don't realize that there's an
association. So there's no shortage of research that talks about how faith can be really helpful in
coping with difficult situations. Right? Spirituality has been found to be a very, very powerful
tool, a powerful coping mechanism helps people bounce bounce back from difficulties in a very
powerful way. But what a lot of people don't realize is that sometimes these difficulties can damage
things in a way that then negatively impacts our faith. And so you can't get this source of serenity
		

			that comes from faith in that situation. And so a lot of times, when people experience doubts in
their faith, when they develop these unhealthy thought patterns, where they start to ask things
like, you know, is ALLAH SubhanA data angry with me? Does he hate me? Or why would Allah do this?
Why would he punished me? Or, you know, it seems like no matter what I do, I pray and I don't feel
anything changing, and nothing is changing. Why do bad things keep happening to me? What's the
point? Right, where people ask all of these questions where they say, I feel betrayed by Allah,
because this happened to me. Right? These are the thoughts that can arise when our brain won't get
		

			out of survival mode.
		

			And so when these thoughts come up, it's really important to realize that these doubts, that can
lead to Delta faith, right, these thoughts that can make us doubt, Allah doubt our faith, they can
be oftentimes attributed to unhealed trauma. And once we know that, it can really give us a path
forward in being able to heal in order to alleviate those faith based doubts as well, in sha Allah.
		

			The Prophet Muhammad SAW Salam, there's a really, I think, moving Hadith for anybody who experiences
these types of doubts, for anybody who struggles with these types of thoughts is realize that some
companions once came to the Prophet Muhammad sai Salam. And then they said to Him, we find in
ourselves thoughts that are too terrible to speak of. And he asked them, you know, are you really
having these thoughts? Right? And he? And they said, Yes, we are. And he said, these concerns that
you have, the fact that you dislike these thoughts is a sign of clear faith.
		

			So anybody who has these faith based doubts, and is beating themselves up for it, wondering, why
can't I get these thoughts out of my mind?
		

			Why can't I trust in Allah? Why do these thoughts come through my mind, I can't believe that I'm
thinking this I hate that I have these thoughts. Realize that those concerns are a sign of clear
faith as it also sallam said, and realize that you're in very good company, that even the most, some
of the most righteous people had a struggle with these thoughts that would go through their minds.
So realize you're not alone in dealing with that. But one of the most heartbreaking issues that
comes up in these situations when people have these thoughts because of the trauma that they've
endured, is that it pushes them away from the ultimate source of healing, right in order to be able
		

			to heal from trauma. What does trauma do? Trauma gets us off off center makes us feel unstable,
makes us feel unsafe. Right. And how do we counter that?
		

			How do we counter that the best source of countering that is with Allah, He is the source of safety
and stability. He is a salaam right the source of peace, that he is the one who helps us to feel
rooted in a sense of mastery feeling, feeling like we have our needs met feeling like we are worthy
and when
		

			If we don't have the antidote to these feelings, because of the doubts that we're experiencing, it
can be very, very lonely SubhanAllah. But one thing to keep in mind is that there's a path forward,
when you can identify that trauma is at the root of this, you can work to heal it. And one of the
things that I find so profound Subhanallah is a concept called Post Traumatic Growth, where
		

			most people
		

			think about trauma as okay, you know, it's life changing 100% Like the trauma can change an
individual the way that they view their life, the way that they view themselves, their thought
patterns, their ability to map manage emotions, and things like that. But also realize that it can
result in really positive psychological changes, which is really strange when you think about it,
how can something devastating
		

			make somebody actually end up feeling better than they did before that devastating event happened in
their life. That's what post traumatic growth is, that researchers have found, and they defined it,
they define it as the ability to thrive, not just bounce back, not just survive after a traumatic
incident incident, but to be able to thrive afterwards. And they categorized it in five different
areas. Number one, being a greater appreciation of life, right? That when you have been buried in a
sense of grief, when you have experienced something overwhelming and something difficult, you then
appreciate the times when you're not experiencing that you have a greater experience, you have a
		

			greater appreciation for the small things that you realize are beautiful in life. Number two, is
this increased closeness in relationships, once you experience potential, like we said, trauma is
always some sort of loss, which makes you then appreciate what you actually do have, right?
		

			And it helps you to be more patient and empathetic and appreciative toward the people in your life.
Three is the identification of new possibilities, post traumatic growth. This is one of the things
that cat care characterizes people who thrive after a traumatic incident is that they see the big
picture, right? It shifts their priorities, right. And so they look to new possibilities and new
opportunities, increased personal strength. I mean, that's undeniable. Once you've gone through
something difficult. You never imagined yourself being capable of getting through it. But once
you've gotten through it, you realize that you can get through almost anything and that Allah
		

			Subhana Allah has given you the capacity to endure that. And then number five is greater spiritual
development. If we can bounce back and heal from a traumatic incident and thrive afterwards. One of
the absolutely most beautiful benefits of it is an increase in spiritual and religious growth,
feeling renewed in that and feeling a greater sense of closeness to Allah subhana data as well.