The Development of Psychological Ideas in Sufi sm: Application of Rumi’s Heritage in Psychological Consulting and Therapy in Turkey

Abstract

The article discusses the issues on how Sufi sm can be related to modern Psychology, in particular, and on how the ideas of Jalaluddin Rumi are integrated into the psychological knowledge in modern Turkey and on how his works are applied in psychological counseling by modern Turkish psychologists. The article analyzes the main methods of applying Rumi's heritage such as Bibliotherapy and Sema (Dervish dance) as therapeutic methods both in group and individual therapy. Moreover, the paper provides a brief analysis of the seminal works by modern Turkish psychologists who use Sufi poem Masnavi and other texts by Rumi in therapy. As a conclusion, the article states that this approach can also be applied in Russian realities and is of interest to the modern Psychology in Russia for a number of reasons, including the growing interest in Sufi sm in the world; the presence of Sufi communities in Russia, which are actively developing, especially in the Caucasus region; active spread of Islamic Psychology in the world. There is little information on this topic in Russian, most of the papers are published in the Turkish language. Thus, studying the problem within this language will make it possible to fi ll the gaps in this area of research.