Group Therapy

Group therapy which has been practiced for about fifty years in Western culture was common among the healers for centuries. The healer for group therapy is very well trained. Assistant healers help in group therapy. To the healers, many people can be in the group, but the sexes are not mixed. Small group sessions are planned. Individuals present themselves for therapy with problems such as not communicating effectively with their spouces and with their peers, vague feelings of uneasi­ness about their goals or purpose in life, self-consciousness and lack of assertiveness. Intelligence and age of the patients are also factors which are considered by the healers in grouping the paitents. Poetry and music are both tools often used in group therapy.

Poetry Therapy

A part of the total treatment of the emotionally ill in Kurdish psychotherapy is poetry therapy. Poetry therapy, according to the healers, can play an adjunctive role in healing. Poetry, to them guides patients to constructive adjustment. It helps patients make their emotional disorders easily, assists the process towards their recovery, and helps them to develop a philosophy of life that abets their adjustment to their mis­fortunes. Poetry encourages patients to explore their feelings, to feel more deeply, to extend their emotional range, yet to discover, also patterns of control and fulfillment. Poetry therapy helps patients to become more spontaneous and creative. Poetry is one of man's deepest expressions, and emotions are thereby released. Poetry can often help a patient to reach levels of emotional insight more adequately than con­ventional dialogue. It is utilized in reflecting the inner turbulent mental state experienced by the patient. It increases one's awareness and makes unconsciousness conscious. Poetry offers the individual a cultural solution to a situation. It offers something more than words and is akin to action. Poetry has more effect than discursive statements because of its bright images and strong phonetic order of harmony and rhytm. Patients with affective disorders may find a poem in sympathy with nearly any mood.
Poems that are close in feeling to the mood of the patient are found helpful. Depressed patients, for example, are helped by poems. By reading, studying, memorizing, reciting or creating poem, depressed patients come to feel that they are not alone in their depressions, that others are also depressed, that others have been depressed and recovered from their depressions. For them, crying precipitated by a poem is often therapeu­tically helpful.
Two things are important with regard to the poem. The meaning of the poem and the rhythm, rhyme and flow and symbols, of it. The poems su­ggested by the healers cover the meaning of daily life, and most of them are based on the Quran and the Hadith. Usually the poems are recited in groups. The healer and the patients sit around on the floor and cooperate in reading and describing poems. The states of ecstasy into which they fall vary according to the emotions which predominate in them - love, fear, desire, and repentance.
These states are the results not only of hearing the poems, especially those based on Quran and verses of Quran, but also erotic poetry. All the verses of the Quran are not adaptable  to stir the emotions such, as that which orders a widow must wait four months after the death of her husband before becoming espoused to another man. The nature which can be thrown into religious ecstacy by the recital of such verses are peculiary sensitive and very rare.
Ecstacy arises out of mental condition, which is of two kinds. One kind is Mokashafa, and Moshahada, which lead to unseen and unthinkable knowledge. Another kind leads to unthinkable change, fear, and repentance. Songs only awaken these conditions. If there is a change of open bodily limbs as a result of songs, it is called ecstacy or Wuzd. Another reason that the healers use poetry other than that of the Quran for healing is that people around them are so familiar with Quran, many even knowing it by heart, that the effect of it has been dulled by constant repetition. One cannot be always quoting new verses of Quran, as one can of poetry. Once, when some wild Arabs were hearing the Quran for the first time and were strongly moved by it, Abu Bakr said to them, "We were like you, but our hearts have grown hard," (AI-Bukhari) meaning that the Quran loses some of its effect on those familiar with it. For the same reason the Caliph Omar used to command the pilgrims to Mecca to leave it quickly: "For," he said, "I fear if you grow too familiar with the Holy City the awe of it will depart from your hearts" (AI-Bukhari).

Music Therapy

The healers believe that the heart of man has been so constituted by God that like a flint, it contains a hidden fire which is evoked by music and harmony. The harmonies are echoes of that, higher world of beauty which is called the world of spirits; they remind man of his relationship to that world, and produce in him an emotion so deep and strange that he himself is powerless to explain it. The effect of music and dancing is deeper in proportion as the natures on which they act are simple and prone to emotion; they fan into a flame whatever love is already dormant in the heart, whether it be earthly and sensual, or divine and spiritual.
In music therapy regard must be had to time and place, and spectators must not come from un­worthy motives. The patients should sit in silence, not looking at one another, but keeping their heads bent, as at prayer, and concentrating their minds on God. Each should watch for what­ever may be revealed to his own heart, and not make any movements from mere self-conscious impulse. But if anyone of them stands up in a state of genuine ecstacy all the rest should stand up with him.
The music therapy session takes from two to three hours. The music they play is very simple and contradictory to those practiced in the Western culture. The musical instruments are drum, tambourine and flute. These musical instruments are supposed to make music which stimulates spiritual emotion; otherwise they are forbidden to be used. The healers call music "sama" or spiritual concernts. They believe that instruments which are delicate and complex in their sounds and shapes usually have the power of evoking in men and women sexual passions, and they are looked upon by Islam with strong disapproval. The healers begin and end'the music with a verse of Quran. They play different kinds of musics and sing different kinds of songs. They have rules how to start and how to end the music. The rules are based on their opinions of the effectiveness of the sounds.

Drug Remedies

Drugs made from local herbs are also used frequently. The pharmacological armamentarium usually consists of mixtures and powders prepared from roots and leaves of plants and given to the patient. These are collected from the woods, mountains and fields by local inhabitants.
The healer has his own small laboratory and his own written formula verified from both the old and new medical knowledge. The healers were not willing to reveal the exact ingredients of their "home" remedies to the author, but they did tell what a few of the herbs were used for .
Galingate is used to harden teeth, wild sage to promote perspiration and prevent blood clotting (embolus); grains of the agnus cas­tus are used to relieve menstrual cramps, the leaves of the anemone raise blisters; dock leaves nuetralize acidity and stimulate appetite, while the flower of the white water lily cools heartburn and wormwood is good for the stomach as a tonic.
Castor-oil, derived from the castor plant is used to reduce colds and eliminate intestinal gas. In addition they admitted that some of their conconctions have no effect whatsoever and are used as a placebo.
The healers are not the only ones, however, who use herbal medicine. In fact some of the common people have been observed to use penicillin to reduce infection, and they have also developed their own kind of first aide. Wounds are often cauterized, the cautery being a mixture of salt, egg yolk, butter and honey applied to the wound at a boiling heat. For backache, after a fall from a horse, for instance, the hide of a freshly skinned goat is applied until it putrifies and effects the cure. It is hard to reason how treatment of the later type works, but the point is that it must; otherwise people would not continue to do it. Bois (1966:79) wrote that , "A French doctor, Dr. Marquios, has recorded that in 1948 he confirmed with his own eyes that in various places in Kurdistan some old women were clearly aware of the beneficial effects of the mould found on bread (penicillum glaucum) on certain wounds and diseases, thus anticipating penicillin ."
The therapeutic use of hypnosis which was first used by Franz Mesmer (1734-1815) in the eighteenth century has been used in Kurdistan by the healers as long as 1,400 years ago. Almost 1,200 years before Mesmer practiced hypnosis, it was being used by the healers of Kurdistan as an adjunctive treatment tool for facilitating their healing. They used hypnosis to facilitate memory, reduce anxiety and symptoms such as headache, neck back and shoulder pain. The technique they use is not exactly like Mesmers, but it is similair and has the same purposes.

Reasons for Maladjustment

According to the healers there are several reasons for maladjustment: the conflict between what an individual wishes to achieve and what he feels he can achieve, goals set too high, a degree of self-eva­luation that is too low, too great expectations of life and too little preparation for one's own contribution. Maladjustment is considered, in short, to be the consequence of distorted value concepts. They have to be corrected or even newly developed in the course of healing.
The healer's first assumption is that the disordered behavior for which people seek treatment is learned. Cognitive processes play an important role in problem solving behavior.  So, here one can see a similarity between the ideas of the healers and those of the phenomenological psychotherapists.
The healers recognize that there are physiological factors which may predispose one to certain types of disorders, and that certain chemical disorders, either internally or externally produced, will also result in behavioral change.
The healers also feel that there is a body of information which indicates that even organically based or genetically predisposing conditions can be in part compensated for or dealt with through psychological techniques, similar to what is known as behavior modification.
According to the healers, the major shapers of the person's behavior are his family during childhood, with the peer group and the institutions of the culture in which one lives providing later shaping and modification of established patterns. The development of behavior disorders occur when the individual undergoes recurring stress and arrives at inadequate solutions when attempting to terminate responses that he experiences as uncomfortable, painful, or anxiety-producing, or when he experiences any other kinds of unpleasant reactions.

The Nature of Man

The healers believe that man is created by God as a being composed of a soul, which is known by spiritual insight, and of a body. The soul is the core of man. The body depends on the soul for its existence, and not vice versa. The soul belongs to the world of the spirit, while body pertains to the material world. Since the characteristics of a material object are not to be found in the soul , it cannot be the subject of the question "how" or "what"; the answer to the question of "what the soul is like" or "how it exists" is that the soul is not the subject of howness or whatness .
The reason for the soul's coming to the body is not to suffer punishment. Christianity teaches that Adam fell from paradise because of his sin, and that this fall was designed as a punishment for him; owing to his sin, there is a taint of sin in every individual whose place on earth is caused by this sin. Such ideas are not to be found among the healers.
The healers state that what caused Adam to fall was something accidental and foreign to his soul, i.e . , an act of disobedience; this made him unfit for living near God. In order to enable him to acquire that fitness, or deserve it through guidance, Allah (God) sent him down to this world. Every soul's fitness is not owing to Adam's faults, but because it is created imperfect. This concept of the acquisition of provision and perfection is a Quranic idea. The healers elaborate it in accordance with their theory of the basic natural disposition or basic nature of the souls since the soul is divine in nature, inclination toward good and aversion to evil are innate in it. This corresponds with the assumption in humanistic psychologies that human beings have a natural tendency to be "good "
The soul is the core of man and the body is merely its instrument for acquiring "provision " and perfection; the body is very necessary for the soul, and care must be taken of it. The soul uses the body as its vehicle. Although a separate substance, it is united with the body through the physical heart. Everything in the body is the assis­tant of the soul. Some of these assistance are visible, e.g. the hands, the legs, and all other external and internal parts. Others are invisible and are three in number:
a) that which is the source of motive and impulse; motive to attain what is use­ful is called "amyal" (desire), and motive to repel what is harmful is named "dusdee badan" (anger).
b) That power or "qudrat" which moves the limbs toward the objects of desire, or against the objects of aversion; it is diffused in all the limbs, particularly in muscles and nerves,and c) that which perceives. This has two divisions, one consisting of the five senses and the other of the five powers which are centralized in the five parts of the brain. These powers are imagination (i.e. representation), retention, reflection, remembrance and the common senses. Besides this relationship between soul and body, the healers believe that soul and body are distinct entities; they affect each other and determine their courses mutually. Every act produces an effect on the soul, and this effect forms the quality of the soul. After an act has been repeated for some time, its effect on the soul becomes established. This idea parallels learning theory.
An act performed without conscious deliberation cannot create any effect on the soul. This is the reason why involuntary action has no relevance to others. As bodily action influences the soul, so the soul influences the body; if a quality is est­ablished in the soul, relevant bodily action necessarily proceeds from it. Willingness or reluctance in the execution of an act depends on the strength or weak­ness of the quality. A deed creates some effect on the soul; this effect causes the body to repeat the same deed; this deed again produces some effect on the soul; this effect is added to the previous effect, which is now strengthened. The circular process goes on indefinitely. This necessity of the soul and body to be in unity and balance in order to promote wellness of each individual roughly corresponds to the idea of the Gestalt Psychotherapy. The healers apply this theory (e.g. getting rid of vices by means of opposite deeds, acquisition of virtues through habit formation, and so on). It is repressed in those who were created with only a moderate degree of desire and anger.
(Avecina (1037), who has shown the intimate relations exist between psychology and medicine, has described various psychical states such as anger, anxiety, joy, grief and other feelings and their effects upon the functioning of the heart, the constituents of blood and different remedies, and has given details of how they affect the heart as well as proper occasions for their use. He has tried to persuade his readers to the belief that moral qualities are based on the functioning of the "heart" in combination with the "spirit." In the third volume of his famous book Qanun, under heart diseases, moral qualities are treated as diagnostical signs of a cardiac constitution. Avecina claimed that it is possible for therapeutic measures to control human feelings such as envy, malice, courage, miserliness, generosity, joy, grief, and anger,which can be increased, decreased or altered.
The healers believe that personality is divided into three interconnected parts, each of which has its own functions and properties. They approach the problems of conflicting ten­dencies within the individual by dealing with the concepts of nafs: amareh, lavameh and motmaenah. The nafs amareh is the depository of the innate instinctual drives (sexual, aggressive), which in their bald form seek immediate expression when aroused. If unbridled, the nafs amareh would always seek immediate gratification of primitive, irrational, pleasure-seeking impulses.
Nafs amareh is present at birth and necessary for survival. All the insticts are included in the nafs amareh. It is the aspect that is in closest touch with the inner world of the individual.
The healers see the nafs amarah as unorganized, unreasonable, and illogical in nature. It is entirely unconscious, having no contact with reality except through the nafs lavamah. They liken the nafs amarah to the primitive or animal nature of man.
The nafs of lavamah is considered the executive of personality. It is partly conscious and partly unconscious. It is practical and discharges the nafs amarah energy in a way that is sensible and in keeping with the religious and moral nature of the society. It discovers a way, a plan of action which reduces the tension and keeps the personality out of trouble.
The nafs lavamah, however, is an organized portion of the nafs amarah. It is dedicated to forwarding the aims of the nafs amareh to frustrating them. At times it may have to divert an impulse or delay its gratification, but essentially it exists to serve the nafs amarah by mediating between its impulses, and the demands and limitations of the environment.
The nafs motmaenah is the moral branch of the personality. It represents a person's moral code, being developed through the child's assimilation of his parents' standards of proper conduct. In a highly moralistic person, the nafs motmaenah has taken over control and the nafs lavamah is subservient to it. Conflict often arises between the nafs motmaenah and the the nafs amarah via the nafs lavamah. The nafs lavamah may try to satisfy the impulses of the nafs amarah but it is then punished by the nafs motmaenah for so doing.
The nafs motmaenah comes into existence through identification with parents, who reward certain actions and punish others. The presen­tation of the nafs motmaenah serves to limit all future actions of the nafs lavamah.
Gazali (1111) is responsible for the idea of the nafs, which preceded Freud’s concept of the id, ego, and superego, and even the "libido", by about 1,100 years. He based his ideas on the Quran, utilizing passages as the following to describe the concept of nafs by about 1100 years. He based his ideas on the Quran, utilizing passages as the following to describe the concept of nafs .
Nafs Ammarah: "Nor do I absolve my own self (of blame). The human soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His mercy" (XII 53).
Nafs Lavamah: "And I do call to witness the self-reproaching spirit (Eschew Evil)" (LXXV 2 (
Nafs Motmaenah: (To the righteous soul will be said :) "0 (thou) soul, in (complete) rest And Satisfaction!" (LXXXIX. 27)
The following is a short description of nafs amarah, nafs lavamah and nafs motmaenah by Gazali (1111):
Nafs has two meanings, Passion or baser and lower self. Passion is a comprehensive word consisting of greed, anger and other evil attri­butes. The second meaning of nafs is soul. When Nafs assumes calmness and has removed passion, it is then termed nafs motmaenah. When the calm nature of nafs does not become perfect, it is called nafs lavamah or self-accusing soul, as such a soul rebukes one for neglect in divine duties. If soul gives up protests and surrenders itself to the devil, it is called nafs ammarah or passion addicted to evils.

Development of Reason

Reason begins to appear at the age of discrimination (sometimes during adolescence), gradually develops at the age of maturity (young adulthood), and becomes perfect at forty, when man becomes fully man. Reason has no power to prevent passions from exceeding their limits. When it develops in man at the time of his maturity, it finds passions very strong in the soul, since they developed much earlier and are strengthened by their repeated satisfaction. Since they are completely irrational they themselves cannot be amenable to reason. Since reason is not present in children and the insane, they do not know good and evil and cannot control their passions, so they are incapable of refraining from evil. (Gazali, 1111). That is why the healers use only a direct therapy approach in treating these cases.

The control of desire and anger, or "amyal" under the commands of reason is strongly urged because the control of desire and anger by reason is considered by the healers as the central characteristic of a normal, virtuous man.

Classifying Abnormal Behavior and Behavior Modification Theory

The healers believe that it is possible to change behavior through effort and appropriate moral training. Men differ in the speed of change in their dispositions. Some people do not distinguish truth from falsehood or good from evil; they lack conviction, and have lacked it since their birth. Their central desires are not strengthened since they have not indulged in them. The character of any person of this type may become "good" normal in a short time.
At the second level are those who know well enough the "badness" of what is "bad", but do not shun it because they find their bad deeds enjoyable. The correction of their disposition is more difficult than for those at the first level.
Those in the third stage believe their evil dispositions to be right and good and so pursue evil ways whole heartedly. It is almost impossible for these men to be cured of their vices; there is no hope for their correction except in rare instances.
The fourth groups are those who, in addition to their corrupt beliefs and practices, see excellence in their very excess of evil. In this they vie with one another, and think that they gain fame by the amount of evil they accom­plish. They are the most recalcitrant of the four levels .
The first two groups in this classifi­cation of abnormal behavior are equal to what the Western psychotherapists label neurotic, and the last two groups are equal to psychotic. As it was explained before, the healers do not make classifications of behavior pathology in the same manner as the Western psychotherapists. They basically con­sider classification artificial, useless, unre­liable and misdirecting. They reject classification for these reasons and rely on the simple classifi­cation of four above groups.
The usual way of achieving good charac­ter is by mortification and self-training (i.e. performing those actions which proceed from good character until they become habitual and pleasant).
Thus to acquire the character-trait of generosity, a man needs to take pains to engage in generous actions, such as giving away some particular po­ssession; he should preserve in this generous action until it becomes a kind of second nature to him. An action will be considered to have become his nature and habit if he feels pleasure in performing it.
Good and normal character may also be achieved by observing good people and associating with them. Man is by nature imitative; one's nature can unconsciously acquire both good and bad from the nature of another. This is the basic principle of training children in good character, for they are more imitative than adults. Imitation is defined by Western psychologists such as Skinner as a conditioned behavior. Studies done by Bandura, and Ross, have suggested that exposing children to either live or filmed aggressive models increases the probability that they will imitate the aggre­ssive behavior they see.
According to the healers, the first step in correcting evil character, or maladptive be­havior, is to increase one’s self-awareness (which is important in any kind of therapy). There are three methods suggested by the healers in this respect.
1. The first is to keep company with a spiritual guide (healer). The guide will closely observe one and tell one about one's defects.
2. The second is to ask a friend who is truthful, pious, and has insight. This friend should be urged to watch one's states and con­ditions closely and to tell one of one's manifest and hidden defects.
3. The third method is to gain knowledge of one's defects from an enemy.

Finding a Healer

When an individual becomes aware of the evil traits which are present in him, he should hasten to remove them. He should seek the help of a spiritual guide (healer), just as he seeks the guidance of a medical man in curing his bodily diseases .
A true guide is the one who is gnostic, intelligent, a seer of the soul's diseases, kind­-hearted, admonishes others in religion, has com­pletely purified his own soul from evil charac­ter-traits, and is eager to assist others in their efforts for purification.
Common men do not know the diseases of the soul, which are very obscure and subtle nor do they know their secret causes and the specific ways and subtle techniques for their removal, and hence they need guidance.
"Know that the evils of the soul are their diseases, and the cleaning of souls from disease is through remedy... For every disease of the soul there is a remedy commensurate with the smallness or greatness of the disease. Apply, then, a remedy for the disease wherever it attack you, by introducing the anti­dote of the disease, or by cutting off its roots”.  (Al-makki: 129).
The guide (healer) should first diagnose the disciple's (client's) disease and determine its causes, and also decide upon the form of self-training he will be able to undergo with good intention, according to age, bodily health and temperament.
After a through examination of all these, the guide (healer) will prescribe a particular form of cure (just as Western psychologists first collect data to form a patient history in order to diagnose and treat mental illness).
If an evil trait is so strong that the dis­ciple (client) is unable to remove it by prac­ticing its opposite, the guide should devise a technique by which the disciple's habit in that trait may be defected to a less evil trait, and this should then be removed by its opposite (in other words, the healer uses shaping to change an initial behavior) .

Self-Actualizing

Some examples of traits that the healers see as bad include gluttony, strong anger, and delusion. Gluttony, in particular, is one vice that they believe can be remedied by performing those acts which are opposite to it (in this case moderation). For example, desire for food is natural in man, and its aim is to ensure bodily health. It is only the moderate satis­faction of this desire that is useful to this end. Excess and deficiency in it are both harmful. Hunger occupies the mind with the thought of food; but the man who takes a moderate quantity of food feels free from hunger and heaviness of stomach - he forgets his stomach; and can think about other things besides eating. So, when a person who is very obese, or on the other hand suffereing from a disorder like anorexia nervosa, the healer would try to help that person achieve a balance by applying the opposite behavior, or "extinguishing" overeating or undereating.
In short, the healers define a self-actualizing person to be one who tries to acquire virtuous or "good" qualities such as hope (optimism), intention (goal-setting pur­pose), unity (self-integration), and other qualities that will enable him to function successfully in a human society, such as patience, trust and love. Love is regarded as the highest station of virtue, and other qualities, such as intimacy and satisfaction, are said to be its by-products.

Psychotherapeutic Techniques in Kurdistan

Healing procedures vary greatly depending upon the nature of maladaptive behavior. It may involve biological, psychological, or sociocul­tural (sociological) approaches, or any combi­nation of these.

Physical Therapy

Deap Breathing

Practicing deep breathing is recommended by the healers as a technique. Deep breathing proper­ly requires the following physical movements:
a. First, intention (determination) is made to do so.
b. Second the air in the lungs is exhaled slowly. For complete exhaling, the individual needs to bend half-way to the front. In performing exhalation the mouth should be completely closed.
c. Then the individual makes a space between his teeth while his mouth is closed and begins inhaling until he is standing straight.
d. The individual keeps the air for as long as he can (based on practicing) and then he lets the air out slowly.
This is a complete exhale and inhale, which the healers teach to their patients. There is a need for a usual breath in between to avoid hy­perventilating. This technique is supposed to help reduce anxiety by increasing levels of oxygen in the bloodstream. Most people have a tendency to hold their breath unconsciously or breathe insufficiently when they are anxious or angry. The consequent lack of oxygen (actually the build up of carbon dioxide) may then cause additional body pain or increased tension, which the healers be­lieve can be prevented by using this technique.
Purification "Taharah "
The healers ask their clients to take care of the purity of both the heart and soul as well as the body and material aspects of life. This is based on many of the Quran injunctions which call upon man to be pure and clean:
"For Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly And He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean" (AI-Bagara, 222).
Patients are asked to perform ablution before prayers, to trim their nails, to remove their hair under­neath the armpit and from around the genitals, to trim their moustaches. This ordinance of cleanliness includes both men and women.
1.  Body washing "Total Ablution”
            a. Body washing upon ceremonial impurity due to sexual contact with one's wife. Both men and women are required to wash their whole bodies.
b. Body washing after mense and puerperium. After the bleeding of menses and puerperium stops women are required to wash their whole bodies.
2.  Purification of the private parts of the body after defecation and urination. Water is used to purify polluted organs of the body after answering the call of nature. If water is not availabe paper is used.
3.  Ablution "Wudou " Ablution is prescribed as a key to prayer and it is absolutely necessary before performing prayers. In ablution the individual washes his hands first, then he rinses his mouth, then he throws water up his nostrils. He then washes his right hand and arms up to elbows, then washes his left hand and arm. Afterwards, he wipes his wetted hand over the upper part of his head. After that he puts the tips of his forefingers wetted with water into his ears and twists them around, passing his thumb at the same time around the back of the ears. Lastly, he washes his feet, up to the ankles and passes his fingers between the toes, en­suring thereby their cleanliness. Each organ is washed three times except wiping the head and ears which should be made only once.
4.  Complete Body Washing "Total Ablution" The washing of the whole body to absolve it from uncleaniness and to prepare it for the exercise of prayer is absolutely necessary after the following acts: noctural emission, menses, costus, and puerperium.
In general, the recommendation by the healer to practice this ritual of cleanliness has its effects on the mind, since it is done while repeating verses of the Quran and senten­ses such as "I seek refuge in God from the temp­ tation of Satan" or "I intend to clean my body as a symbol of cleaning my soul.”

Sociological Approaches to Therapy

Sociocultural approaches to treatment are concerned with alleviating poverty (such as the healers' attempts at gathering money or finding job for their clients), group prejudice and discrimi­nation (healers' attempt in explaining the brother­ hood and equality among the Muslims), and other pathogenic community and social conditions. The use of the social milieu is especially considered important in the treatment of identity crises in the adolescent. The healers help the adolescent to take full advantage of the normal societal processes available to him, usually relationships with peers and discussions with them of mutual problems.
Participation of the patients in the re­tuals and ceremonies usually has the most impact upon the modification of the patients' social behavior. The rituals are as follow:

Friday Prayer

All the believers in the community have to participate in the Friday prayer according to the Quran. Friday prayer is a congregational prayer only and cannot be offered alone. Consequently, an Imam (i.e., Leader and usually the healer of the community) leads the prayer. He first delivers a Khutba (sermone) in two parts consisting moral, usual, present day situations, showing the people the means of their elevation and dwelling upon their national praise to God and Prayers of Ble­ssing for the Holy Prophet, and communal welfare and some admonition to the congregation. He then prays to God for the welfare of all those who have given submission to God. After that he leads two Rokat of Friday and all the others follow him as usual in congregational prayers.
The Imam stands in front of the congregation facing the direction of the Kaba, and all the other worshipers stand in lines behind him and follow his lead, i.e., they stand when he stands,  perform Ruku when he does it, and so on . To prepare oneself for Friday prayer, one should take a shower or bath in the morning, put on clean clothes, and abstain from eating foods which leave an offensive odor on the breath, such as onions or garlic.
There is no better way of bringing about the noble feeling of social and unity and brother­hood than conducting such a collective or group prayer. The rich and the poor, the white and the colored, the high in society and the low stand side by side as true brothers, saying the same words, doing the same actions and feeling the same reverence and devotion. This certainly drows their souls nearer to each other.
As Friday is the day of collective worship for Muslims, its observance may seem to resemble the Sabbath or Sunday in Judiasim or Christianity.
The similarity, however, is apparent rather than real. The basis of the Sabbath observances in these religions orginated from the idea that as God the Creator "rested" on the seventh day after six days of "labor" at completing the creation of the heavens and the earth, so man should also rest in honor and observance of the Creator's "rest" (see Exodus 20:8-11). This idea is fundamentally contrary to the teaching of Islam, as the omnipotent God does not become weary and requires no rest from His "work." There is no Sabbath in this sense in Islam. Muslims can carry on their usual activities and business before and after the Friday prayer. God has said in Quran:
“O you who believe!
When the call is proclaimed for prayer on Friday, hasten earnestly to the remembrance of God, and leave off business; that is better for you but know. And when the prayer is finished, then you may disperse through the land and seek the bounty of God; and celebrate the praises of God often, that you may prosper” .
 Eid-al-Fitr (The Festival of Fast Breaking) Eid means a recurring happiness or festi­vity. When the Prophet arrived in Medina, he found that the people of that city celebrated many festivals. He abolished these pagan observances and told the Muslims that God has prescribed only two festivals for them - the Eid-al-Fitr (The Festival of Fast-Breaking) and Eid-al Adha (The Festival of Sacrifice).
The Eid-al-Fitr is celebrated on the first day of Arabic lunar month (Shawwal) following the month of fasting, Ramadan.
 Eid-al-Adha (The Festival of Sacrifice) This Eid is celebrated on the 10th of Dhul-Hijja, following the course of Hajj (pil­grimage to Mecca).
The Eids are days of thanksgiving and rejoicing for every Muslim, as well as for the community of Muslims as a whole. While the Eids are occasions, for joy and happiness, they are certainly not occasions for frivolity, over­eating or the pursuit of pleasure. The joy on Eid is the spritual joy of fullfillment-fullfilment of God's command of discipline, piety and collective worship.
Each of the Eid days begins with prayer and is spent in alms-giving, visiting friends and relatives, and exchanging greeting and gifts.
The spirit of Eid is the spirit of peace and forgiveness, for at these times one should forget all grudges and ill-feeling toward one's fellow men if he has not already done so. On Eid one makes fresh start in his relations with others in a brotherly spirit.
After the Arabs destroyed the strong Iranian Empire with the help of Islam in Seventh century, Kurdish people as well as Persians accep­ted Islam faithfully. Hundreds of maktabs, madre­ses (schools) and colleges were built. Islam uprooted the earlier integrated policies and practices and eased the past. Persians modi­fied the new practices willingly and integrated them into their own way of life. During Safavia Dynasty in fourteenth century, many pegan prac­tices of the old Persians were put into action. Such is the celebration of “Nowruz” the new year of the old Persian calender. But the Kurdish and the ten millions of Sunnis in Iran kept the pure Islamic practices. This is a proof to the idea that there is no pre-Islamic aspect in the Kurdish life as well as in the practices in psychotherapy.