meta-diagnostic model to explain the relationship between neuroticism and anxiety intensity in anxiety disorders: mediating role of emotion dysregulation

The objective of this study is to examine the meta diagnostic model in order to elucidate the correlation between neuroticism and the intensity of anxiety in anxiety disorders, specifically focusing on the mediating role of emotion dysregulation in the year 2022. this research is categorized as basic and non-experimental or descriptive, based on its aims. the statistical population consisted of all female patients (aged 20-55) who were diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, or panic disorder and sought treatment at eight psychiatric and psychological centers in tehran during the second half of 2022. the sample group, selected through purposive sampling, comprised 678 individuals, including 207 female patients (aged 20-55) with generalized anxiety disorder, 242 female patients (aged 20-55) with social anxiety disorder, and 229 female patients (aged 20-55) with panic disorder. the research employed the following tools: the neo mccree and costa (1985) five-factor personality questionnaire, the aaron beck et al. (1990) anxiety questionnaire, and the gratz and romer (2004) emotional disorder questionnaire. data analysis was conducted using the structural equation modeling method, with the assistance of spss-25 and amos-25 software. the findings revealed a significant direct relationship between emotional dysregulation and neuroticism, as well as between anxiety intensity and emotional dysregulation, and neuroticism in social anxiety disorder. conversely, no significant relationship was observed between emotional dysregulation and neuroticism, anxiety intensity and emotional dysregulation, and neuroticism in panic disorder. furthermore, in the case of generalized anxiety disorder, no significant relationship was found between anxiety intensity and observational emotional disorder, as well as between anxiety intensity and narcissism, and emotional disorder and narcissism. moreover, the indirect relationship between anxiety intensity and neuroticism through emotional dysregulation was confirmed in social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, but not in panic anxiety disorder.