Journal of Psychology And Religious Spirituality

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Covert Threats within the Core System of Human Spiritual Development: An Explanatory Model for Spiritual Psychopathology

    Author

    Associate Professor Department of Hadith Knowledge, Faculty of Islamic Sciences and Knowledge, Quran and Hadith University, Qom, Iran

,

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract

Introduction and Objectives: One of the central issues in the study of religion and the psychology of religion is the problem of threats to faith. In addition to overt threat agents, there exists a category of silent and covert threats that operate without explicit markers, functioning through the gradual erosion of the psychological fabric of faith. The aim of the present study is to identify these covert threat agents to faith and to analyze their psycho social mechanisms, through which faith is diminished from within, ultimately leading to spiritual–psychological harm. The research methodology employed in this study is qualitative content analysis applied within the framework of Islamic studies, complemented by a psychological interpretive approach to religious texts. The findings indicate that, in this domain, four covert factors operate, each of which diminishes faith through its own distinct psychological mechanisms:

Astonishment, operating through the formation of a “halo of wonder”;
Reverential Awe (khashyah driven deference), functioning through the inherent tendency of being overpowered by perceived greatness;
Fear of reproach, activated through the innate human fear of social discreditation;
Feelings of loneliness (wahshah), operating through the activation of the instinctive drive to avoid isolation.

Collectively, these covert factors lead either to blind conformity or to blind denial, both of which contribute to the internal erosion of faith and subsequent spiritual–psychological harm.
Accordingly, this model can be employed both to explain spiritual psychopathology and to design a program of spiritual therapy.

Keywords

References
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Journal of Psychology And Religious Spirituality
Volume 1, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
April 2026
Pages 7-44
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