Metacognition and Emotional Schemas: Effects on Depression and Anxiety

The cognitive attentional syndrome (CAS) is characterized by threat monitoring, repetitive thinking, limitation in cognitive resources, unhelpful control strategies, and continued focus on the content of thinking (Wells 2000, 2002, 2006; Wells & Matthews in Cognition & Emotion, 8(3), 279-295, 1994). An alternative model of worry—the avoidance theory—proposes that worry is reinforced by the temporary decrease in arousal during the activation of “cognitive” or abstract worry (Borkovec et al. 2004; Borkovec and Inz in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28(2), 153-158, 1990). The current study proposed that metacognitive processes are more likely to be activated if individuals have negative beliefs about emotional experience. Four hundred twenty-five participants completed the Metacognition Questionnaire (MCQ), Leahy Emotional Schema Scale (Leahy in Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 9(3), 177-190, 2002), BDI-II, and the BAI. Negative beliefs about emotions were significantly correlated with each of the five metacognitive factors and with both depression (BDI-II) and anxiety (BAI). Almost all of the 14 emotional schema dimensions were related to the five metacognitive factors of worry. Mediational analyses suggested that uncontrollability/danger of worry partially mediated the relationship between negative beliefs about emotion and symptoms of anxiety. Similarly, uncontrollability/danger of worry and cognitive competence/confidence partially mediated the relationship between negative beliefs about emotion and symptoms of depression. These findings support metacognitive, avoidance, and emotional schema models by indicating that both metacognitive processes and beliefs about emotion separately contribute to depression and anxiety and that worry appears to be a strategy that is utilized to cope with negative beliefs about emotion.