ABSTRACT
Metacognition is ‘thinking about thinking’. This was always bound to be part of cognitive therapy, which has from the start, maintained that thinking about one’s negative thoughts can allow one to rethink such thoughts and thereby lessen their toxic effects. Adrian Wells has described another aspect of metacognition by which people can develop ‘beliefs’ about procedural thinking that then have very negative effects on the mind and on psychopathology. Worriers for example, often believe either that, ‘Worrying this way will drive me mad’ and/or ‘Worrying a lot means that I will not get any nasty surprises’. Both these beliefs may well maintain and deepen the way clients worry and can lead on to further mental ill health.
