Thinking About Thinking as a Therapeutic Approach

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has established efficacy in treating depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and psychosis. However, the search for more-substantial response rates has led researchers increasingly to explore metacognition (“thinking about one's thinking”) as a therapeutic approach. Metacognitive therapy (MCT) focuses on monitoring and critically appraising the way that one thinks, rather than on the particular content of thoughts associated with specific disorders.

This therapeutic approach stems from the work of Adrian Wells, a psychologist who, about two decades ago, developed a theoretical model of metacognition and initially applied it to anxious rumination (Wells A and Matthews G. Att…