The Comparison of Personality Traits, Trait – State Anxiety and Existential Anxiety among Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Normal People

Introduction: Generalized anxiety disorder is one of the most common anxiety disorders with high prevalence in community and clinical settings. The aim of this study was to compare personality traits, state- trait anxiety and existential anxiety in patients with generalized anxiety disorder and normal individuals.

Method: The research design causal-comparative. The statistical population included all of patients who referred to clinics, psychiatric centers and counseling centers in Urmia and Tabriz cities in the first 6 months of 2015 that among them, 80people were selected by convenience sampling method. This sample was divided into two groups which contain one group of 40 individuals with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and the group of 40 normal people. Participants completed Short Form of NEO questionnaire, Spielberger's State - Trait Anxiety Inventory and Good'sExistential Anxiety Scale. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.

Results: The results showed that the mean scores of neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and trait – state anxiety in patients with generalized anxiety disorder is significantly high. Also no significant differences were observed between groups in mean scores of existential anxiety.

Conclusion: The results indicate importance of personality traits and trait – state anxiety among patients with generalized anxiety disorder.