Rhetoric of the Arabic Language and its Psychotherapeutic Role Based on the Method of Cognitive Reconstruction and Reciprocal Inhibition: the Case of Surah al-Hamd

It goes without saying that psychotherapy aims at the treatment of mental diseases and disorders. Now the question is if language, considering its influence on human psyche, can be regarded as a psychotherapeutic method or, to say the least, fulfill the same aims expected from psychotherapy? This basic question as well as lack of research in this domain promoted the carrying out of the present study, which is confined to Surah al-Ḥamd and is based on a descriptive-analytical methodology. The findings indicate that the rhetoric governing the linguistic structure of this Surah as a tool in psychotherapy is in accordance with two of the prevalent psychotherapy methods, that is, “cognitive restructuring” and “reciprocal inhibition”. Understanding the rhetoric gained from types of words and phrases as well as linguistic devices such as restriction and reduction, fronting and tailing, similar to cognitive restructuring, can help eliminate many emotional tensions created by irrational human thoughts, through changing destructive mental patterns and creating a proper attitude toward incidents. Moreover, based on the method of “reciprocal inhibition”, the association of relaxation and the state of mental calmness caused by literary relish of this surah with anxiety-inducing factors creates a conditional relationship between anxiety-inducing factors and calmness and relaxation responses prompted by this surah which, in the end, alleviate anxiety.