Abu Ali Al-Husayn B. Abd Allah Ibn Sina (980-1037) every stage.

every stage. According to him, ordinary human mind is like a mirror upon
which a succession of ideas reflects from the active intellect. Before the
Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna in the West was from Bukhara. He was known
acquisition of knowledge that emanates from the active intellect the mirror
primarily as a philosopher and a physician, but he also contributed in the
was rusty but when we think, the mirror is polished and it remains to direct it
advancement of all sciences in his time. In the field of psychology, Ibn Sina
to the sun (active intellect) so that it could readily reflect light. Ibn Sina also
wrote about mind, its existence, the mind-body relationship, sensation,
gave psychological explanations of certain somatic illnesses. He considered
perception, etc. in his famous book As-Shifa (Healing). At the most common
philosophizing as a way of making "the soul reach perfection". Ibn Sina
level, the influence of the mind on the body can be seen in voluntary
always linked the physical and psychological illnesses together. He called
movements, i.e., whenever the mind wishes to move the body, the body
melancholia (depression) a type of mood disorder in which the person may
obeys. The second level of the influence of mind on the body is from
become suspicious and develop certain types of phobias. Anger he said
emotions and the will. Say for instance, if a plank of wood is placed as a
heralded the transition of melancholia to mania. He explained that humidity
bridge over a chasm, one can hardly creep over it without falling because
inside the head can contribute to mood disorders. This happens when the
one only pictures oneself in a possible fall so vividly that the "natural power
amount of breath changes. Happiness increases the breath, which leads to
of limbs accord with it." Strong emotions can actually destroy the
increased moisture inside the brain but if this moisture goes beyond its limits
temperament of the individual and lead to death by influencing vegetative
the brain will lose control over its rational thought leading to mental disorders.
functions. On the other hand, a strong soul could create conditions in another
He also used psychological methods to treat his patients.15 Ibn Sina also
person as well-based on this phenomenon, he accepts the reality of hypnosis
wrote about symptoms and treatment of love sickness (Ishq), nightmare,
(al Wahm al-Amil). He divided human perceptions into the five external and
epilepsy, and weak memory.
five internal senses: (a) sensus communis or the seat of all senses that
integrates sense data into percepts, (b) the imaginative faculty which Ideas on Psychology
conserves the perceptual images, (c) the sense of imagination, which acts
Avicenna explored the area of death anxiety and noticed this was a universal
upon these images by combining and separating them (by intellect in
fear. Avicenna stated that there were three cognitive types of causes for
humans) and is therefore the seat of practical intellect, (d) Wahm or instinct
death anxiety. This included the following types of disordered thinking: (a)
that perceives qualities like good and bad, love and hate, etc. and it forms
ignorance as to what death is, (b) uncertainty of what is to follow after death
the basis of one's character whether or not influenced by reason, (e)
and (c) supposing that after death, the soul may cease to exist. He stated
intentions (ma'ni) that conserves in memory all these notions. He wrote
that the degree of anxiety one experiences is directly related to the level of
about the potential intellect (within man) and active intellect (outside man)
knowledge one has about the idea of death (Avicenna, 1009). These ideas
and that cognition cannot be mechanically produced but involves intuition at
are similar to Cognitive-Behavioral theory as pathology is seen as a lack of
understanding of the disorder that one has and disordered thinking. Once
cognitive restructuring is underway, the experienced disorder should
diminish. Similarly, Avicenna recommends that religio-education be sought
out in order to alleviate these thoughts, thus reducing the experience of
death anxiety.
Avicenna also spent a lot of time on the mind-body problem. Avicenna
believed that the human mind is like a mirror and has the ability to reflect
knowledge as it utilizes active intelligence (i.e. thinking). The more we think,
the clearer and more polished our mirror gets, directing oneself towards the
acquisition of true knowledge. Furthermore, the mind is in control of the body
and there is a direct hierarchical relationship between the two. Such that,
when the mind wants to move the body, it obeys. The second level of control
the mind has on the body is through influencing emotions and will. Strong
emotions can cause self-fulfilling prophecies, if one believes that one is going
to fail, the likelihood of failure would increase. This can also cause a
disturbance in health, in that the mind can influence health and impact
vegetative functions (Haque, 2004). This is very similar to present scientific
evidence on the influence of stress on the immune system, leading to a
possible increase in physical sicknesses. Avicenna also believed that a
strong personality or soul could influence others via hypnosis (called al-
wahm al-amil).
Avicenna divided human perceptions into five external and internal senses:
(a) Senus communis which integrates sense data into precepts; (b)
imaginative faculty that conserves perceptual images; (c) sense of
imagination that acts upon the imaginative faculty, producing practical
intelligence; (d) moral instinct propelling one to perceive good and bad, love
and hate, making up ones character and; (e) intention that conserves all of
the above notions in memory and influences behavior (Haque, 2004).
Avicenna talked about psychological disorders and believed that
melancholia is a disorder where one becomes suspicious and is usually
mixed with certain types of phobias. He said that anger resulted when one
transitioned from melancholia to mania. He believed the cause for this was
an abundance of humidity in the head. Breathing results in moisture getting
to the head, but if you have too much moisture in your head, it may develop
into a mental disorder (Haque, 2004). The important thing to consider here
is that Avicenna was considering that the causes of mental illnesses as
originating in the head well before the emergence of phrenology, which
directed Western thought towards modern psychology. In fact, Avicenna
made other hypotheses concerning the neurological origins of various
diseases, but due to religious prohibitions of cutting open the head, he was
not permitted to experiment in this capacity. Avicenna also wrote about love
sickness/disorder, theorizing that excessive passion was at the root of this
disorder. This is reflective of his religious beliefs regarding Islamic
prohibitions of excessive expressions of love towards anything other than
God. This cultural difference is apparent in that modern western culture
often sees love and passion as something to be highly sought after. The
DSM in this regard may not necessarily be reflective of additional diagnoses
that may exist in Muslim countries.