Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
The aim of this study was to investigate the role of spontaneous and deliberate mind-wandering and dispositional mindfulness in predicting obsession symptoms in the college students. Spontaneous and deliberate mind-wandering are types of intrusive thoughts, emphasized in recent researches. Spontaneous mind wandering is defined as thoughts that are irrelevant to the central task or thought. In fact, this type of mind wandering occurs automatically and without full consciousness of the person or he/she does not have control over his/her thoughts. This feature probably resembles the obsessive thoughts seen in OCD patients. Obsessive thoughts and spontaneous mind wandering both are considered as intrusive thoughts and share the features of repeatability and intrusiveness. Mindfulness has been defined as bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment. The Cognitive Assessment Model was introduced which emphasized on negative reaction upon inner experiences of OCD patients and noted that mindfulness might be beneficial in reducing obsession. 
2. Method
Regarding the data gathering method, this study is a descriptive (non experimental) correlational design. In the present study, 391 Bachelors of Arts (B.A) students from Tabriz University who scored below 11 (lower than clinically significant scores) in Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) were chosen using Morgan formula. The age of the participants was between 18-26 years. The available sampling method was used, and the data were gathered using the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI), Mind Wandering Spontaneous (MW-S), Mind Wandering Deliberate (MW-D) self-report scales, and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Pearson correlation-coefficient method and simultaneous multiple regression were used to analyze the data. Data were analyzed using the IBM’s SPSS 21 software package.
3. Results
In total, 391 subjects participated in the study. The mean and standard deviation of the participants were 50.1 and 32.22, respectively. Correlation results showed that deliberate mind wandering (r=0.19, P=0.05) and spontaneous mind wandering (r=0.64, P=0.01) had a positive and direct relationship with obsession symptoms. Among the components of mindfulness, the components of observation (r=0.11, P=0.05) ، acting with awareness (r=-0.41, P=0.01), disrespect to inner experience (r=-0.50, P=0.01) and lack of reaction to inner experience (r=-0.61, P=0.01) had a negative and reverse relationship with obsession. The regression coefficients showed that from mind wandering variables, only spontaneous mind wandering could predict obsession symptoms. The predictive coefficient of this variable is 0.51, which shows its influence (P<0.01, β=0.51). Also, from mindfulness components, act with awareness, non-judgmental orientation to one’s present experience and non-reactive orientation to one’s present experience (β=-0.20, β=-0.22, β=-0.41) could predict obsession symptoms. Also, deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering variables and components of dispositional mindfulness could explain 0.54 of variance of the obsession symptoms.
4. Discussion
The findings indicated that spontaneous mind wandering and components of act with awareness, non-judgmental orientation to one’s present experience and non-reactive orientation to one’s present experience could predict obsession symptoms. A shared conceptualization of spontaneous mind wandering and obsessive thought is that they happen when people experience undesirable failure in executive functions. Such experiences could make irrelevant thoughts enter the consciousness. Failure in executive functions might not only be linked to intrusive thoughts related to OCD, but it could also play a role in spontaneous mind wandering. Another finding was that components of act with awareness, non-judgmental orientation to one’s present experience and non-reactive orientation to one’s present experience could predict obsessive symptoms in a reverse manner. Didona stated that many psychological characteristics of OCD patients result from mindfulness deficits. For example, constant obsessions and compulsions are the opposite points of living mindfully in which the individual pays attention to them without judging whether they are right or wrong. Instead of being mindful and curious about their thoughts and actions, OCD patients feel guilty about their intrusive and unpleasant thoughts and their reaction to these thoughts results from their interpretation of them.
Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guideline
The students participated in the study with full satisfaction and signed the informed consent, including the right to participate in or not to participate in research, privacy, and access to the results.
Funding
The present paper was extracted from the third author MSc. thesis and was financially supprted by University of Tabriz. 
Conflict of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
Hereby, we sincerely appreciate all the professors and students who helped us with this research.

 

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