What is Metacognitive Therapy? What are its Main Goals?

Metacognitive therapy, a cognitive behavioral therapy method created by Adrian Wells, is one of the most up-to-date treatment approaches today. The word metacognitive means metacognition in Turkish...

Metacognitive therapy, a cognitive behavioral therapy method created by Adrian Wells, is one of the most up-to-date treatment approaches today. The word metacognitive means metacognition in Turkish. This treatment approach focuses on the wrong ways of thinking that lead to mental disorders in people. It is important how we respond to the thoughts we develop in response to situations.

Main Goals in Metacognitive Therapy

This form of therapy differs from cognitive behavioral therapy in that it focuses on the individual's thinking process.

The main goals of metacognitive therapy are as follows:

• Focusing on metacognitive processes that cause and maintain mental disorders

• Changing false beliefs that hinder a person's recovery

• Creating metacognitive awareness

• Improving the way the individual reacts to their self-generated thoughts

• Restructuring the way of thinking

What are Negative Internal Triggers?

• All or Nothing (Black and White Way of Thinking)

One's thoughts are at two extremes. There is no gray area. In this way of thinking, events should be as the person wants them to be or not at all. As soon as the actual event does not meet the person's expectations, negative judgments begin. "If I am not the best at work, I am a failure." or "Everyone must think positively about me, otherwise it means I am defective."

• Overgeneralization

It is making inferences about oneself based on one or more events. It is the negative thinking of a person who has a setback at work and says, "Nothing is going right for me", or of a student who does not do well in an exam and says, "I have never been a smart student anyway...".

• The Binocular Gaze (Minimizing the Positive, Magnifying the Negative)

It is when a person ignores the good things that happen in his/her life, finds excuses for their occurrence, but when a single negative event happens to him/her, he/she generalizes it and sees it as the end of his/her life. In this negative way of thinking, individuals do not believe in the fact that problems can occur in life as well as happiness. "I graduated first in my department, but this is not a very important achievement, the exams were easy anyway."

• Catastrophizing

It is the state of always imagining the worst case scenario. Individuals are sure that the negative scenario they imagine will come true. "If I fail this exam, I will never finish my degree and I will be a failure for the rest of my life." or "He didn't greet me, I must have done something wrong."

• Mental Filter

Filtering means focusing on the negative and turning even positive situations negative. It is passing every action in the outside world through one's own negative filter. It is attributing meaning to the behavior and words of others without any logical justification. It is seeing only the empty part of a half-full glass.

• Jump to results

The negative judgment of situations without sufficient evidence. There are two types, False Reading and Mind Reading. Mind reading is when an individual concludes that the other person thinks negatively about them. "Judging by the way he's laughing under his mustache, he definitely didn't like my presentation, he's secretly making fun of me."

Fortune-telling is making certain judgments about future events. "I'm going to fumble at the job interview and I won't get the job."

• Believing in feelings

It is the state of being sure that bad things will happen because of false beliefs about the reality of the emotions felt. "I'm so anxious, I'm sure I'm going to mess up in the exam." or "I'm stressed, so I'm sure my job interview will go badly."

• Tagging

It is the labeling of oneself or others, often based on a single situation. "I failed this exam, I am an idiot." or "He didn't reply to my e-mail yesterday, he is very irresponsible."