the role of abandonment schema and perception of social interactions (positive and negative thoughts) on complicated bereavement: the mediating role of existential anxiety in people with bereavement experience

Background: when a loved one passes away, individuals typically go through a natural grieving process to cope with the loss, as grief is a universal human experience. objectives: this study aims to assess the role of abandonment schema and perception of social interactions (positive and negative thoughts) on existential anxiety and complicated bereavement in people with bereavement experiences. methods: this study was a combination of descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional research using the structural equation modeling approach. the research focused on individuals who were experiencing grief in isfahan city from july to november 2021, with a sample size of 260 participants selected using a convenience sampling method. the research utilized various assessment tools, including the grief experience questionnaire, perception of social interactions inventory, young schema questionnaire, and existential anxiety questionnaire. the data analysis involved conducting descriptive statistics in spss software (version 27), and examining path coefficients between variables in smartpls version 4. results: the study results demonstrated that having an abandonment schema significantly and positively impacted the experience of complicated bereavement (β=0.375, p<0.001). conversely, the influence of existential anxiety on complicated bereavement was not significant (β=0.150, p=0.076). negative thoughts had no significant impact on complicated bereavement (β=0.108, p=0.102). conclusion: the results of the present research suggest that maintaining optimistic thoughts can decrease the severity of complicated grief, whereas experiencing feelings of desertion, existential worry, and pessimistic thoughts can worsen complicated grief.