ABSTRACT
The twelfth chapter of the guidebook to Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) details the methods MERIT uses to assess metacognition within session: the MERIT Intervention Framework (MERIT-IF). The MERIT-IF is the basis for the last two of the eight MERIT elements, which call for interventions that stimulate different facets of metacognition which match patient’s metacognitive capacities. Based in part on the Metacognition Assessment Scale-Abbreviated, the MERIT-IF is composed of four scales: self-reflectivity or the capacity to form an integrated sense of oneself, awareness of the other or the capacity to form an integrated sense of others, decentration or the ability to see the world from multiple perspectives, and mastery or the ability to use metacognitive knowledge to respond to psychological and social challenges. For each scale, the lowest level is labeled “0,” and each successive higher level is conceptualized as involving a more complex integrative activity. The score on each scale is reflective of the patient’s maximal capacity for metacognitive activity on that dimension. Methods for continuous assessment using the MERIT-IF within the natural flow of the conversation during sessions is presented.
