Qualitative Study of Emotional Disorders’ Symptoms in Some Ethnic Groups in Iran

The present study aimed to inves-tigate the cultural dimensions of anxiety and depression in Azeri, Kurd, and Fars (Persian) ethnic groups in Iran. In a cross sectional qualitative design, 44 individuals with emo-tional problems participated in an in-depth interview including perceptions of emotional disorders, their causal factors, and help seeking behaviors. Data were analyzed using conven-tional content analysis. Primary findings repre-sented relative similarity between these three groups in the reported themes, which could be summarized in three main themes, namely negative emotionality, somatization, and mal-adaptive cognition. Perceived etiological factors for emotional disorders included more psycho-logical processes rather than social and environ-mental components. The extracted themes con-sisted of a heterogeneous set of psychological constructs, and provided further evidence to reiterate the importance of contextual variables such as culture and ethnicity in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of emotional disorders.