The man is mortal. He is a universal truth. Death is the event that ensures this mortality. Some of us, who believe in religion, define death as an event that leads us to another life, others, who do not believe it, take it as the absolute end of life. This variation in the concept of death develops from our childhood. Rarely is such an important concept in human life scientifically addressed. But can the concept pattern have a significant impact on mental health?
My research began with the search for different concepts of death. The most optimistic concept in Bangladesh was the one described in the religion of Islam and followed by most of the people here. He describes death as an event prior to ‘life after death’. Those who do not practice or believe in religion carried the most pessimistic concept. He describes death as the absolute cessation of life, and nothing afterwards.
150 Muslim subjects were selected for this investigation. They were divided into five groups according to their degree of religiosity. The first group consisted of the most religious type of Muslim and the last group consisted of the least religious or non-believing type of Muslim (non-believers are also included in this group) in Bangladesh. The other three intermediate groups consisted of the type of Muslim who has a moderate to mild degree of religiosity. Each group was evaluated for their adjustability, especially with the universal truth: death. They were also evaluated for their mental health condition, especially for their adjustment condition on average.
The result was analyzed by ANOVA and correlation coefficient. Statistically significant differences were found in both death truth adjustment and global adjustability between different groups of Muslims. The best fit in the two sectors mentioned above was found among the most religious group of Muslims. The worst was found in the least religious group (which also included non-believers). The intermediate groups showed differences in results in more or less the same way.
As the degree of religiosity was the indicator of the pattern of the concept of death, that is, when a Muslim is more religious, death is more a representative of life after death for him or her and, therefore, for the unbeliever, death is the absolute cessation of life. . The first group of Muslims, who were the most religious among the 150 subjects, had the best adjustment to the truth of death and also had the fewest psychiatric symptoms related to adjustment disorders. The last group of Muslims showed exactly the opposite condition, both for death and for mental health.
Thus, in inference, it was concluded that the concept of death can influence mental health. It was anticipated from the result that the influence on mental health can come through the quality of adjustment with the universal truth – Death, which is also a product of the pattern of the concept of death.
The research was supervised and sent to the Bircham International University in Spain, and after evaluation by the academic council it was rated as excellent. The Bircham International University website cites this research in the list of research conducted under the supervision of this university.