Poetry therapy in Molavi's thoughts

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature at Shahed University

10.30465/lir.2025.50317.1944
Abstract
Jalaloddin Mohammad Balkhi, known as Molavi, an Iranian mystic poet, who is more known as Rumi in the West, is one of the intellectual and cultural geniuses of Iran and the world. He has shown in his works that he had many concerns and thoughts about epistemology, anthropology, and ontology. He has created works for mental health and inner peace of man, which until today all thinkers and even ordinary people have benefited from these works and have tried to improve mental health and better life in this world. One of the fields that can benefit from Molavi's mystical and wise thoughts reflected in his poems is poetry therapy, which has been read by poetry therapists for years and taught in university groups. Today, therapeutic poetry with its rich history and diverse applications is still a valuable tool in the field of therapeutic interventions and is used to improve mood, reduce stress, increase awareness, and help people manage emotions. In this research, poems by Molavi have been presented, which the author believes can be used in the field of poetry therapy. The method of this research is thematic content analysis and the results show that Molvi's poems are very effective in the field of cognitive and meaning therapy, hope therapy, happiness therapy, positive attitude towards existence, and positive psychology, and finally, it can induce peace, Personal growth and a deeper understanding of oneself and the world, which is similar to cognitive-behavioral therapy in contemporary psychology.

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