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Metacognitive awareness and prevention of relapse in depression: Empirical evidence.

John D. Teasdale, Richard G. Moore, Hazel Hayhurst, Marie Pope, Susan P. Williams, Zindel V. Segal

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 2002 DOI: 10.1037//0022-006x.70.2.275 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational cohort with intervention components Peer reviewed
Population Residually depressed patients and nondepressed controls; recovered depressed patients
Intervention Cognitive therapy
Topics Meditation Depression
Keywords Metacognition Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy Clinical psychology Depression economics Feeling Relapse prevention Psychotherapist
Citations 966
Key findings Cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduce depressive relapse by increasing metacognitive awareness, not by changing belief in thought content.

Abstract

Metacognitive awareness is a cognitive set in which negative thoughts/feelings are experienced as mental events, rather than as the self. The authors hypothesized that (a) reduced metacognitive awareness would be associated with vulnerability to depression and (b) cognitive therapy (CT) and mindfulness-based CT (MBCT) would reduce depressive relapse by increasing metacognitive awareness. They found (a) accessibility of metacognitive sets to depressive cues was less in a vulnerable group (residually depressed patients) than in nondepressed controls; (b) accessibility of metacognitive sets predicted relapse in residually depressed patients; (c) where CT reduced relapse in residually depressed patients, it increased accessibility of metacognitive sets; and (d) where MBCT reduced relapse in recovered depressed patients, it increased accessibility of metacognitive sets. CT and MBCT may reduce relapse by changing relationships to negative thoughts rather than by changing belief in thought content.

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