Metacognitive Therapy For Emotional Distress
In this article, we will explain what metacognitive therapy consists of and how it can help us manage our emotional distress. Just as there are many theories and terms in psychology that we are generally used to and that we are all familiar with to a greater or lesser extent, there are others that are totally unknown to us.
It often happens that we learn about terms that we have never heard before when we are in therapy with a good, qualified psychologist. One of these terms may well be metacognitive therapy.
What is Metacognition?
When we go to a cognitive-behavioral therapist who uses scientifically backed techniques, they usually work in a sequence.
He starts by evaluating the patient and then comes up with a personal intervention plan. When the therapist explains what is happening to us, he is talking about how our emotions work and why we feel what we feel.
It is important to keep in mind that much of the distress that certain situations cause has to do with how we interpret these situations.
This means that we may feel differently about the same situation depending on the thoughts we have at the time. We can sometimes even feel bad because our thoughts don’t match our current reality.
Cognitive therapy focuses on identifying, questioning, and changing these automatic thoughts and irrational beliefs. By achieving this, it is possible to reduce the intensity of negative emotions. However, we should not only consider these cognitive processes, we also need to work on our metacognition.
Metacognition refers to the interpretation, guidance and control of our cognitive processes. In other words, it has to do with knowledge about our own knowledge and the way we think. Metacognition is related to our attempts to manage and make sense of our thoughts, beliefs, and other cognitive processes.
What is Metacognitive Therapy?
That said, negative metacognitive beliefs can cause emotional distress. Here are some examples of such beliefs: ‘Maybe I’m a bad person and that’s why I get negative thoughts’. “Worrying will help me be better prepared.”
“If I analyze this, I’ll get the answers I’m looking for.” “If I understand the reason behind this, maybe I can find a solution.” ‘I can’t control my thoughts’, and ‘If I have bad thoughts, I will do bad things’.
These metacognitive beliefs fuel the cognitive processes that cause, prolong, and exacerbate emotional distress. Some examples of this include worrying, worrying, drawing attention to negative stimuli (negative attentional bias), and focusing on the causes rather than the solutions.
We must not lose sight of the fact that individuals often implement ineffective strategies of control and suppression that ultimately amplify their negative emotions. The metacognitive therapy therefore focuses on getting rid of those dysfunctional and dangerous techniques that an individual resorts to to control his thoughts.
In other words, it tries to change that inflexible way of thinking that ‘locks’ the person in negative thought processing. The goal of metacognitive therapy is to change the way we respond to our own thoughts.
This allows us to work at a deeper level than with traditional cognitive therapy. We change not only the content of our thoughts, but also the way we think about ourselves.
In fact, studies in this regard show that metacognitive therapy is effective for treating generalized anxiety disorder. It also appears to be effective in post-traumatic stress disorder or severe depression.
