To ease your anxiety, you’ve probably heard of CBT. This is cognitive-behavioral therapy, which involves changing the way you think about things to benefit your feelings and behavior.
For example, if your upcoming job presentation looks like a banana peel and you start devastatingly thinking about all the ways it can go wrong and ruin your life, a CBT therapist can work with you to , may work together to form a more realistic and melodramatic interpretation of the task, which should reduce the level of anxiety.
But now there is an important new derivative of CBT called metacognitive therapy.
Metacognitive therapy focuses on what you are thinking, whereas CBT is primarily concerned with what you are thinking. almost What are you thinking (hence the word “meta” in the name). The real focus here is not on the thoughts themselves, but on how the mind responds to them.
For example, when it comes to anxiety, the idea is that changing the way you think about anxious thoughts can help you feel calmer.
How effective is metacognitive therapy?
Metacognitive therapy is less well known than CBT, but has already attracted a significant amount of research support.
For example, in a paper published in 2021, Norwegian psychologists collaborated with: Professor Adrian Wells – British psychologist who developed metacognitive therapy – to follow long-term outcomes in dozens of patients with generalized anxiety disorder who participated in conventional CBT or metacognitive therapy.
Patients who received metacognitive therapy had already shown great improvement Comparisons were made with patients who underwent CBT both at the end of treatment and after 2 years.
In a 2021 paper, the researchers looked at most of the same patients nine years later. The metacognitive group again recovered better from anxiety.
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Usage Metacognitive therapy to relieve anxiety
A metacognitive therapist distinguishes between the positive thoughts you have about thoughts related to anxiety and the negative thoughts you have about them.
The idea of having positive thoughts over anxious thoughts may sound contradictory. But in fact, many people who experience persistent anxiety say, “As long as you spend enough time worrying about your work presentation, it can help prevent something really bad from happening.” Deaf” or “My worries are that the presentation will help me prepare for it.”
Unfortunately, thoughts like these can throw you into a worry cycle.
If you recognize a “positive” attitude toward anxiety, you can take some self-help steps to challenge yourself. For example, take some time to question your assumptions about your worrying thoughts.
Does spending time worrying about a bad outcome really make it less likely to happen? Of course not. For example, worrying about a car crash or a plane crash does not keep you safe.
Worrying that your work presentation is going to be a disaster doesn’t prevent it from being a disaster (only serious preparation prevents it).
You can start out gently and work on small experiments. Let’s see what happens when we stop worrying about upcoming events. Over time, you’ll learn that worrying doesn’t protect you.
What about the negative thoughts people have about anxious thoughts? These include things like “I can’t stop thinking horrible thoughts.” “I can’t help but worry.” And, “My heart won’t stop pounding – I must be crazy.”
If you notice these thoughts about your anxious thoughts, again, there are some basic self-help steps you can try.
Keep in mind that frightening and trying to shut out anxious thoughts will likely only make them worse. You are effectively training your mind to fear anxious thoughts.
Metacognitive therapists encourage you to try to detach yourself from worrying thoughts rather than fighting them.
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Dr. Pia KaresenA leading authority on metacognitive therapy, he suggests a nice metaphor. Imagine your anxious thoughts like a train arriving at a station. Rather than boarding, simply let them arrive and then move on.
I have only mentioned a few of the techniques used in metacognitive therapy, but there are many others. Underlying all of this is the empowering principle that your mind has evolved to deal with difficult emotions. All you really need is to get out of the way.
Your mind is actively trying to intervene with anxious thoughts, creating unnecessary problems by thinking you need to hold them in, control them or shut them down.
You risk falling into a cycle of worrying about worrying and fearing about fear.
So, if you can, try not to be too distressed by recognizing that some worry and anxiety is normal. Allow it to pass, and it probably will.
How to use metacognition to let go of worry
Another important principle is to recognize that there are things in life that you can control, and there are many things that you cannot control.
When anxiety starts winding up again, stop and consider whether it’s focused on the controllable or the uncontrollable. If it’s the latter, admit that you’re having anxious thoughts and feelings and let them go (like a train passing through a station).
If your anxiety is centered on something you can control, get it out of your head and make a concrete plan that will definitely make you feel better.
For work presentations, you might start by scheduling time to read the required background at specific times. Make a plan to prepare and stick to it.
Of course, there are limits to what you can do on your own. And if anxiety issues are severe, it’s important to consult a mental health professional. If you like the sound of the principles and techniques I’ve described, someone trained in metacognitive therapy may be able to help you.
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