Treating Stress with Metacognitive Therapy

Summary

STRESS HAS BECOME A FACT OF LIFE for far too many people today. Until now, the treatment of stress has mostly focused on behavioral changes, combined with talking about and noticing every thought, feeling, and sensation. But according to the metacognitive approach, this excessive focus on the self is what actually creates the problem. Worrying and ruminating are not simply a symptom of stress, but the causes of stress, preventing stress sufferers from fostering real change. Real change can only occur when the metacognitive management systems underlying behaviour are addressed by focusing not on what, but on how stress sufferers respond to their thinking. The thought is not important, but how they react to it, makes the difference.

This book comprises concrete examples of how a course of metacognitive therapy can be planned. The reader is invited into the therapy room to learn: how to apply the exercises of this method; what to remember during the therapy process; and which questions are important to ask the client. Metacognitive therapy is a part of the third wave of cognitive behavioural therapies and has shown promising results for clients with depression and anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety, social anxiety, PTSD, and OCD. This approach can also be helpful for stress sufferers. First and foremost, the client should learn that their thoughts do not create the problem, but, on the contrary, their response to them does. By applying metacognitive principles, the therapist or practitioner can help the client improve their cognitive management system at the metacognitive level, so that they can choose new and more effective strategies. The client has to reduce their worrying and ruminating before taking action on their actual problem.