Managing Your Mental Health at University – Iqra Iqbal
For the Seekers – Episode 10
featuring Iqra Iqbal
The years spent studying at University or College can be an extremely stressful time for students, and for many, can result in a variety of overwhelming emotions and experiences that ultimately impact their overall mental health.
Whether it’s stress from overworking, a built up about anxiety about one’s future or feelings of loneliness, depression or fatigue, there’s a high possibility that what you’re experiencing is similar to some of your colleagues and you’re not alone.
In this episode of ‘For the Seekers’ as part of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek, Iqra shares her own mental health struggles during her 3rd year of University and the steps she took to manage this.
In this episode, you will learn:
- When Iqra experienced nerves during third year and how this impacted her
- The negative effects of her keeping this to herself
- Why you should seek help
- What Universities have to offer
Islam and Mental Health
Due to the stigma attached to mental health conditions within the Muslim community, there’s often a great lack of education surrounding this subject, and in particular, the connections between our faith and our mental health.
Often people are blamed for their negative mental health and simply told to “pray more”, or “make more du’a”, or accused of not trusting Allah (swt) enough.
This mindset is extremely dangerous and fails to recognise the very real, uncontrollable mental health issues that one may experience due to no fault of their own. Experiences of anxiety and depression can, in fact, be caused by a wide variety of biological, social and psychological factors and debilitate a person even if they are considered to be “religious”.
To shed light on this subject and educate the Muslim community about mental health from an Islamic perspective, we interviewed a range of experts and qualified professional on our podcast show to discuss the definitions of mental health via examples from the Qur’an and Sunnah, medical and psychological studies, and real-life experience.
These episodes are incredible eye opening and provide a great foundation for understanding why mental health issues exist and how we can go about finding support and managing them. Click below to explore these and learn more.
About Iqra
Iqra graduated with an accountancy degree from the University of Glasgow and currently works in the banking industry. Whilst studying she was actively involved with her University Islamic society, serving as the role of treasurer.
Iqra has started her own association where she looks to empower the youth through sharing knowledge, leadership activities and resources.
For the Seekers is a new weekly video series on Deenspiration aimed at students, young professionals and all seekers of spiritual, academic and work-life success. Each video contains valuable tips, advice and self-development techniques by a range of influential Muslims.
