Metacognition is a word that you might have heard.
It is “the awareness or analysis of one’s own learning or thinking processes.”
Essentially, it is thinking about your thoughts.
How do you identify with the thoughts you are thinking?
What labels do you attach to them?
Practicing metacognition is easier said than done; it takes hyper-awareness to monitor our thought and learning processes consistently. But in doing so, we can identify destructive thought patterns that cause us worry, grief, and anxiety. Identifying these patterns is helpful because we can then begin to search for solutions to them.
If used properly, I believe that metacognition is one of the foundational pieces of improving one’s own mental health and other areas of life.
But there can also be adverse effects of metacognitive beliefs.
Let’s say you identify your habit of worrying as “awful,” this can lead to higher levels of anxiety since every time you worry, you are triggering a thought that you are “awful” for doing so. So it’s essential to understand the difference in metacognition and the beliefs that stem from using it.
Without implementing some level of metacognition into our daily lives, the task of finding the negative thought patterns and the blind spots within our learning processes would be much more difficult.
Learning how to become aware and observe your thought processes will profoundly impact your ability to identify and modify your thinking and subsequent emotional responses to those thoughts.
So let’s dive in, shall we?
METACOGNITIVE THERAPY (MCT)
Metacognition can take different forms but often appears as a value judgment about one’s thoughts, such as “It’s bad that I overthink everything.”
According to research, these metacognitive beliefs can play a critical part in depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), among others.
It’s important to understand that the beliefs you carry about how you think can shape your life in many ways. Some recent findings suggest that targeting this type of metacognition can help relieve anxiety and mood disorders.
Research has shown that Metacognitive therapy (MCT) can successfully treat mood and anxiety disorders.
MCT was developed recently, in 2008, by Adrian Wells, a clinical psychologist at the University of Manchester (England). At its core, MCT teaches patients to recognize and then reframe metacognitive thoughts that reinforce unhelpful or unhealthy coping mechanisms. MCT also teaches patients how to become more flexible with their thinking instead of ruminating or other unhelpful ways of thinking.
MY THERAPY AND METACOGNITION
When I began going to therapy for my anxiety and depression, one of my therapist’s primary focus areas was metacognition.
She didn’t use the term metacognition, per se, but after talking through some of my struggles, she inferred that redirecting and reframing my thoughts would be a critical aspect of my healing.
Although I had already been tracking some of my past thoughts, I hadn’t made it a daily focus.
But through therapy, I began understanding the importance of daily metacognition. I’ve now become more mindful of my thought patterns and how they affect my everyday life. In doing so, I’ve become aware of the negative thought loops that replay in my head, causing me to lose focus in the present moment and become anxious.
These were significant discoveries for me in my journey to healing.
IDENTIFYING EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS WITH METACOGNITION
Emotional triggers are stimuli that set off a memory or flashback of a traumatic event.
Triggers can be people, places, things, or even sensory input such as smell or sound.
Whenever a trigger boils up to the surface, it is usually accompanied by a strong emotional response, such as; anger, rage, sadness, grief, anxiety, etc.
When you begin using metacognition to evaluate your thought processes, your emotional triggers will be one of the first areas you’ll uncover.
You may notice that when a particular person walks into the room, you feel that tense, uncomfortable, and highly emotional sensation, and you begin to think negative thoughts.
Alternatively, you may discover that you become anxious and nervous whenever you sit in a car’s back seat (and it triggers a slew of anxious thoughts) because of a past accident.
Sometimes a specific scent or smell can trigger us into a strong emotional response.
These are examples of emotional triggers which usually accompany fear-based or traumatic thought.
By becoming aware of your thoughts that accompany these triggers, you can begin to retrain your brain to respond differently.
3 AREAS METACOGNITION CAN HELP YOU
IDENTIFYING THOUGHT PATTERNS
No matter what mental health burdens you face, identifying thought patterns is crucial in eventually solving the issues. If you do not know which thought patterns are giving you problems, how can you change them? Using metacognition to spot and identify these patterns will allow you to see how you respond to the world around you. And this awareness will also clearly show you which thoughts are giving you the most trouble.
BECOMING AWARE OF EMOTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE THOUGHTS
Thoughts often come with emotions. They go hand-in-hand. Whenever you think a thought, there’s typically an emotion that is associated with that thought. For example, if you think about a person you cherish and love, you may feel gratitude and joy. Whereas, if you think about a person you cannot stand, you may tense up and feel anger and resentment. Metacognition gives us the ability to spot these emotions associated with the thoughts we are experiencing. Identifying these emotions can lead us to greater insight into which thoughts create painful and self-limiting emotions and which thoughts are creating more peaceful and joy-filled emotions.
UNDERSTANDING HOW YOU PERCEIVE THE WORLD AROUND YOU
Once you gain a few metacognitive skills, you can then piece together your thought pattern puzzle. Which thoughts do you think the most, and which thoughts have the most negative impact on your emotions and well-being? Discovering these answers will give you a better understanding of how you perceive the world around you. Do you catastrophize? Are you always leery of people? Do you feel grateful for what you have? Are you emotionally numb? Do you perceive every situation the same, regardless of circumstances? These are questions you’ll be more likely to answer after using metacognition for a while.
IN REVIEW
Metacognition is a valuable personal development asset.
Using it often can give you great insight into your ways of thinking and emotions associated with those thoughts.
Metacognition can also help illuminate patterns that could be sabotaging your mental well-being.
Implementing metacognition into your daily routine will be challenging. But once you do, you will begin to pick up on those thoughts causing you the most trouble. And doing this is where the real healing journey begins.
Side note: I also recommend keeping a journal or record of your thoughts. Doing so will help spot patterns more quickly and will give you more detailed insight over a more extended period.
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