ABSTRACT
This chapter examines whether the meta-cognitive perspective on anxiety has relevance for the understanding of delusional experience. Meta-cognitive processes have also recently been implicated in the development of emotional disorders. The most detailed meta-cognitive model is that for Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). It is proposed that people with GAD are 'in a state of cognitive dissonance in which positive and negative beliefs about worry co-exist'. For individuals with persecutory delusions and individuals with GAD, assessments were made of the frequency of general everyday worries and meta-worry, beliefs about worry, and strategies used to control worry. Central to A. Wells's model of GAD is that excessive worriers spend time worrying about worrying. Wells argues that less emphasis in therapy should be given to the content of everyday worry and instead the focus should shift to the individual's beliefs about worry. Pertinent to the current argument, the items loading on the distress dimension were worry, unhappiness, and resistance.
