Abstract :
ABSTRACT
Fasting on Monday and Thursday are sunnah fasting that have done two
days a week, namely on Monday and Thursday. Fasting on Monday and Thursday
as a practice of worship can prevent a person from experiencing mental instability.
This is because the practice of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays can have an
impact on the mental health of the practitioners. The aim of this study is to describe
the process of achieving mental health by fasting on Monday and Thursday for its
practitioners. The purpose of this study is to describe the experience of fasting
practitioners on Monday and Thursday and to describe the process of achieving
mental health by fasting on Monday and Thursday at Raden Mas Said University
Students, Surakarta.
This study used a qualitative research approach with phenomenological
methods. Researchers identified the experience of fasting on Monday and Thursday
and the process of achieving mental health by fasting on Monday and Thursday.
The informants in this study were four people who had research characteristics, the
students from State Islamic University of Raden Mas Said Surakarta who felt
mental changes after practicing fasting on Monday and Thursday. Informants were
determined by purposive sampling technique, which was obtained from distributing
questionnaires to students at State Islamic University of Raden Mas Said Surakarta.
The data collection used semi-structured interviews, non-participant observation,
and distributing questionnaires. Data analysis in this study used the analytical
technique proposed by Moustakas which used five steps: horizontalization,
reduction, clustering, description, synthesis. The validity of the data was assessed
using member checking and triangulation of sources and methods.
This study concludes that the process of achieving mental health through
the therapeutic elements of fasting are physical movement, cognitive restructuring,
self-acceptance and submission, self-control, and with physical, psychological,
social, religious aspects. Then from theory and experience of the practitioners, two
paths emerged in the process of achieving mental health with the practice of fasting
on Monday and Thursday, namely the physical and psychological paths. In the
process of achieving mental health by fasting on Mondays and Thursdays, new
aspects were found, namely aspects of habituation mechanisms. Through this
process, a healthy mental state or mental health has achieved.
Keywords: Fasting on Monday and Thursday, Mental Health