Dysfunctional metacognition across psychopathologies: A meta-analytic review.

Dysfunctions in metacognition have been reported in individuals with anxiety disorders. Although recent studies have examined metacognition in other disorders, how dysfunctional metacognition compares across disorders is not clear. This review aimed to ascertain the importance of dysfunctional metacognition in various psychopathologies, and to identify similarities and differences in metacognitive profiles across disorders. Forty-seven studies were selected from 586 articles published between 1990 and August 2015, including a total sample of 3772 patients and 3376 healthy individuals. Studies that measured metacognition using the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire (MCQ) and its variants were included. We conducted five meta-analyses including 49 to 55 effect sizes, comparing psychiatric patients to healthy individuals on respective metacognitive dimensions of the MCQ. We found elevated metacognitive dysfunctions in patients, as a group, on all MCQ dimensions. Group effects were large and robust for the two negative beliefs (i.e., beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger of thoughts, and beliefs about the need to control thoughts), and moderate and unstable for the positive beliefs. Patients showed decreased cognitive confidence and heightened cognitive self-consciousness on moderate to large levels. Moderator analyses revealed that negative beliefs about uncontrollability and danger of thoughts were most prevalent in generalized anxiety disorder, whereas heightened cognitive self-consciousness was more characteristic in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders manifested more similar metacognitive profiles than other disorders. Our findings supported dysfunctional metacognition as common processes across psychopathologies, with certain dimensions being more prevalent in particular disorders.

Sun X ，Zhu C ，So SHW 《-》

The relationship between metacognitive beliefs and symptoms in eating disorders.

Georgantopoulos G ，Konstantakopoulos G ，Michopoulos I ，Dikeos D ，Gonidakis F ... -  《-》

[Psychometric approach of metacognition: Pilot study in clinical population].

Metacognition describes the process of thinking about one's own thought processes. This concept was introduced by Flavell in 1979 and has since been widely developed in the cognitive approach to mood and anxiety disorders. As it happens, many recent studies have underlined the links between metacognition and anxio-depressive symptoms, pointing out the interest of assessing its various dimensions. The short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire is a brief multidimensional measure of a range of metacognitive processes and metacognitive beliefs about worry and cognition relevant to the vulnerability to and the maintenance of emotional disorders. The aim of this study was twofold: firstly to adapt and validate a French version of the short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) and to assess its psychometric properties in a clinical sample, and secondly to investigate metacognitive predictors of anxiety and depression in this sample. The sample included 55 clinical participants (24 men, 31 women, mean age=51.33±14.62) with DSM-IV-TR psychiatric disorders (major depression, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Instrument reliability (internal consistency), construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis), and convergent validity were measured. The total score and the five subscale scores were also compared with previous results in non-clinical samples. Reliability analyses indicated that the French version of the MCQ-30 possessed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach α=0.84), and confirmatory factor analysis supported the MCQ's original five-factor structure. Correlation with measurements of depression, anxiety and pathological worry demonstrated convergent validity (r=0.62, P<0.01 for anxiety; r=0.47, P<0.01 for rumination; r=0.33, P<0.05 for depression). Moreover, our clinical sample scored higher on the global scale when compared to previous non-clinical samples (mean score=71.85±13.57 while previous studies global scores ranged from 48.41±13.31 to 65.89±17.17). Consistent with others studies, negative beliefs about worry concerning uncontrollability and danger, as well as beliefs about the need to control thoughts were the strongest predictors of pathological worry (respectively r=0.68, P<0.01 and r=0.48, P<0.01) and depression (respectively r=0.45, P<0.01 and r=0.39, P<0.01), providing further support for the validity of the measure. These findings provide general support for the internal consistency of the French version of the MCQ-30, as well as its five-factor structure and its good concurrent validity in a clinical sample. They also confirm that this version is a valuable tool for the assessment of various dimensions of metacognition, in relation to the anxio-depressive symptomatology and the subsequent management of patients.

Visinet A ，Soumet-Leman C ，Baptista A ，Bungener C ，Jouvent R ... -  《ENCEPHALE-REVUE DE PSYCHIATRIE CLINIQUE BIOLOGIQUE ET THERAPEUTIQUE》

Social cognition and metacognition in obsessive-compulsive disorder: an explorative pilot study.

Mavrogiorgou P ，Bethge M ，Luksnat S ，Nalato F ，Juckel G ，Brüne M ... -  《-》

An explorative study on metacognition in obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder.

To test the hypothesis that dysfunctional metacognitions might be a general vulnerability factor for anxiety disorder, metacognitive beliefs among patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), patients with panic disorder (PD), and healthy subjects (HS) were studied. Correlations between metacognitive beliefs, OCD, and PD symptoms were also investigated. Patients with OCD (n = 114), patients with PD (n = 119), and HS (n = 101) were assessed with the Metacognition Questionnaire (MCQ). Patients with OCD and those with PD scored significantly higher than HS on the MCQ in 2 dimensions: negative beliefs about worry concerning uncontrollability and danger as well as beliefs about the need to control thoughts dimensions. No difference in MCQ scores was observed between the OCD and PD groups. The former 2 MCQ dimensions were positively correlated with the degree of indecisiveness in patients with OCD, whereas the MCQ negative beliefs about worry positively correlated with the average intensity of anticipatory anxiety in patients with PD. The presence of dysfunctional metacognitions in both patients with OCD and those with PD suggests that such beliefs can represent not only generic vulnerability factors for anxiety disorders but also elements that contribute to maintaining the disorder, as evidenced by their associations with aspects of OCD and PD symptoms.

Cucchi M ，Bottelli V ，Cavadini D ，Ricci L ，Conca V ，Ronchi P ，Smeraldi E ... -  《-》