Journal of Counseling Research

Hossein Ahmad Barabadi[1] - Ma'soomeh Ismaili[2] - Hossein Salimi Bajestani[3] - Seyed Mohammad Kalantarkooshe[4]

This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of God image in anxious patients in comparison to healthy subjects. This was a qualitative study using deep interview among patients referred to Tehran Imam Khomeini Hospital psychiatric clinic, 17 patients (12 women and 5 men) who received a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and 10 healthy subjects (7 men and 3 women) who had no symptoms of anxiety or other psychiatric disorders. They were selected through purposeful sampling, until saturation was obtained. For data analysis  Grounded theory method with thematic analysis were used. The results showed significant differences between anxious and healthy people in the quality of God image. The majority of  anxious patients’ God image seemed to be negative, which  included terms such as: untrustworthy, awful, inaccessible, unkind, and non-supportive. While most healthy people’s God image was positive, and included categories such as: trusted, forgiving,  receptive, kind, nice, and insightful (with wisdom).