ABSTRACT
As we have seen, a key difference between MCT and the approaches of CBT, behaviour therapy and REBT is that it does not focus on the content of thoughts and beliefs. The only exception is reserved for focusing on the content of metacognitive beliefs. In CBT, the therapist is concerned with the content of negative automatic thoughts and invites the patient to reality test this content. Cognitive distortions or thinking errors are identi®ed in thoughts and beliefs but this is an extension of examining content. This emphasis on content stands in contrast to the predominant focus of MCT, which is on thinking style or cognitive processes.
