the role of metacognition and intolerance of uncertainty in differentiating illness anxiety and generalized anxiety

Objective:this study aimed to differentiate illness anxiety and generalized anxiety by the role of metacognition and intolerance of uncertainty.methods: this research was a descriptivecorrelational study with an expost facto design. the study population included all students of yazd university, and the study sle comprised 400 healthy adult university students (mean age=23.3 years, sd=4.9) who were selected using the convenience sling method. participants were asked to fill out 4 selfreport measures:short health anxiety inventory, intolerance of uncertainty scale, metacognitions questionnaire, and penn state worry questionnaire. finally, 338 questionnaires were statistically analyzed by spss 20, using anova and discriminant function analysis.results: the results showed that there were significant differences between different groups with respect to most studied variables and that intolerance of uncertainty cannot discriminate between 2 disorders. we can argue that this factor is a significant risk factor in both illness anxiety and generalized anxiety disorders.conclusion: in general, transdiagnostic factors such as intolerance of uncertainty and cognitive beliefs have significant roles in emotional disorders, and can be considered as therapeutic targets.