Irrational beliefs

Mental health plays an essential role in ensuring the dynamism and efficiency of any society. Entering the university is a challenging life event for young adults; because students encounter changes in social communication, expectations, and roles. As a result, they are susceptible to experiencing stress and anxiety that could affect their functions. The present study was done to present the causal model of the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations on mental health about the mediating role of irrational beliefs. The research method was descriptive correlational. To do this, 250 students from Allameh Tabatabaei University were selected via available sampling and then answered a self-report questionnaire consisting of four Factors of Irrational Beliefs Test-Ahvaz (4IBT-A; Ebadi and Motamedi, 2005), General Health Questionnaire (28- GHQ; Goldberg & Hiller, 1979), and Aspiration Index (AI; Grouzet et al., 2005). Data analysis was administered in two parts of latent and observed variables via structural equation modeling using AMOS software. The results showed that extrinsic aspirations positively predict irrational beliefs and intrinsic aspirations negatively predict irrational thoughts; intrinsic aspirations, directly and indirectly, affect mental health; but extrinsic aspirations have no direct effect on mental health; instead, they can reduce students' mental health mediating irrational beliefs. Also, irrational beliefs had a causal and immediate impact on mental health.

Objective: The present research aimed to examine the effectiveness of neurofeedback therapy on emotional processing, irrational beliefs, and aggression in patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Method: This study was a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with a control group. The research population comprised all women with generalized anxiety disorder visiting psychiatric treatment centers in Golpayegan in the first half of 2019, from which 30 female patients were purposefully selected based on inclusion criteria and randomly assigned to either the experimental or control groups. The experimental group received eight 30-minute sessions of neurofeedback therapy. Meanwhile, the control group did not receive this intervention during the research process. The questionnaires used in this research included the Spitzer Generalized Anxiety Scale (2006), the Baker Emotional Processing Scale (2007), the Jones Irrational Beliefs Questionnaire (1968), and the Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire (1992). Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance with SPSS-24 software. Findings: The results of the data analysis indicated that neurofeedback therapy significantly affected emotional processing (F=10.89, P<0.001), irrational beliefs (F=10.83, P<0.001), and aggression (F=8.16, P<0.008). Conclusion: Given the confirmed effectiveness of neurofeedback therapy on emotional processing, irrational beliefs, and aggression in patients with generalized anxiety disorder, it is recommended that workshops be organized to familiarize counselors and therapists more thoroughly with the principles and techniques of this treatment in the field of this disorder.