تحلیل تجربه زیسته بیماران مبتلا به اختلال اضطراب فراگیر از بی‌ثباتی ذهنی

مجید عباسیان; بیتا فراهانیان

Authors

Majid Abbasian Department of General Psychology, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran Author
Bita Farahanian Department of Family Counseling, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.

Keywords:

Generalized anxiety disorder, mental instability, lived experience, worry, uncertainty, qualitative research, thematic analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the lived experience of patients with generalized anxiety disorder regarding mental instability and to identify its cognitive, emotional, bodily, and functional dimensions. This qualitative study was conducted using an interpretative phenomenological design. The participants were 18 patients with generalized anxiety disorder living in Tehran, selected through purposive sampling. Inclusion criteria were a clinical diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist, age between 20 and 50 years, at least six months of anxiety symptoms, and willingness to participate in an in-depth interview. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Saturation occurred in the sixteenth interview, and two additional interviews were conducted to confirm data adequacy. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis with the support of NVivo software. Data analysis led to the extraction of five main categories: uncontrollable flow and disturbance of thoughts, decision-making fatigue and persistent doubt, heightened sensitivity to uncertainty, mental preoccupation with bodily symptoms of anxiety, and impairment in psychological presence and interpersonal functioning. Participants described mental instability not merely as having many thoughts, but as an exhausting experience of unstable attention, continuous shifting between possibilities, catastrophic anticipation of the future, and a reduced sense of control over the mind. The findings indicated that mental instability in patients with generalized anxiety disorder is a multidimensional experience shaped by chronic worry, intolerance of uncertainty, negative metacognitive beliefs, bodily hypervigilance, and functional exhaustion. Clinical attention to this lived experience can support the development of psychotherapeutic interventions focused on worry regulation, tolerance of ambiguity, modification of metacognitive beliefs, and restoration of everyday functioning.

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