ABSTRACT
The thirteenth chapter of the guidebook to Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) describes the seventh of the eight elements, which comprise the basis for MERIT. These last two elements are at the core of MERIT’s therapeutic action. They are considered to be superordinate elements because they are concerned with therapeutic action across the whole of the session, regardless of the element or content. Element 7 enables therapists to jointly reflect with patients about themselves and others in a way that is metacognitively accessible to the patient. It allows therapists to appreciate the level of fragmentation of patients’ experiences and understand the kinds of thoughts that can be shared productively and in time lead to the incremental growth in patients’ metacognitive capacity. This chapter outlines how to use the MERIT-IF self-reflectivity and awareness of the other scale to generate interventions appropriate to patient metacognitive levels. Satisfactory adherence to this element requires frequent stimulation of patients to think about either themselves or others, which are more often than not at the appropriate metacognitive level.
