Living experience of adolescents girls with irrational beliefs ,a narrative analysis study

The aim of this study was to analyze the life narratives of female adolescents with irrational beliefs.

The method of the present study was qualitative with a narrative analysis approach with a pluralistic analysis model. The statistical population included female high school students in Tehran in the academic year 2020. To identify adolescents with irrational beliefs, Bernard (1988) adolescents' irrational beliefs questionnaire was used. Twelve people were purposefully selected due to having 1.5 units of standard deviation above the average and studied until reaching theoretical saturation. Data collection was by semi-structured interview with Macadams.

Findings of the research by organizing the elements of the story within the narrative structure of problem solving, after the coding process, showed conceptual commonalities among adolescents with irrational beliefs in 5 main themes and 9 sub-themes. These adolescents had five common themes: low self-efficacy, poor communication skills with others, poor communication with God, dysfunctional parent-child relationship pattern, and traumatic childhood problems.

It can be concluded from the research findings that in the treatment interventions of adolescents with irrational beliefs, in order to reduce these beliefs, more attention should be paid to the role of weakness in communication skills, self-efficacy and communication with God. In interventions to prevent the development of irrational beliefs in adolescence, the harmful problems of childhood such as rejection and emotional deprivation and the role of dysfunctional parenting style should be considered to prevent the development of irrational beliefs. Psychologists can use the findings of this study to design educational packages to improve adolescents' mental health.