Metacognitive therapy
Metacognition refers to a person's ability to to be aware of & control their own thoughts. "Meta" is Greek for "after" & cognition refers to thoughts. In many ways it refers to our ability to be aware of & think about our thoughts as well as what we believe to be true about our thoughts.
Metacognitive therapy is based on the idea that emotional & behavioural problems such as depression & anxiety are caused by the Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS) which consists of:
Metacognitive beliefs or beliefs that we have about our thoughts are said to control the CAS. Examples of negative or dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs include:
Metacognitive therapy aims to identify & modify unhelpful metacognitive beliefs as well as retrain attention away from threat. In doing so this helps to alleviate many of the symptoms of psychological problems.
Metacognitive therapy is based on the idea that emotional & behavioural problems such as depression & anxiety are caused by the Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS) which consists of:
- Worry
- Rumination
- Fixation of attention on threat &
- Unhelpful coping behaviours.
Metacognitive beliefs or beliefs that we have about our thoughts are said to control the CAS. Examples of negative or dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs include:
- "Worrying helps me to cope"
- "If I worry about something then it won't happen"
- "If I think about doing something then it must mean I want to do it or it's going to happen"
- "I need to be able to control my thoughts at all times"
Metacognitive therapy aims to identify & modify unhelpful metacognitive beliefs as well as retrain attention away from threat. In doing so this helps to alleviate many of the symptoms of psychological problems.
