🪞 How Your Metacognitive Habits Fuel Emotional Harms
New research suggests the way you think about your thoughts may transform your emotional experiences and quality of life
Much of our daily experience is shaped by the way we mentally reflect on the thoughts or sensations emerging in our bodies. For example, two people can interpret the same discomfort in their chest in wildly different ways: one might dismiss it as a harmless, momentary flutter that will pass, while another might view it as a distressing signal that their heart health is at risk.
Depending on the scenario, any interpretation could be correct, but the kinds of interpretations we generally lean toward can fundamentally determine our emotional health and sense of resilience.
That’s the central idea behind a new study exploring the role of metacognition—our beliefs about our own thinking—in the emergence of depressive symptoms and cognitive experiences. The findings shed light on why people in emotional distress often report cognitive problems that don’t match objective test results, and they highlight potential ways to build resilience.
💭 When thinking about thinking becomes the problem
In a 2025 study published in Scientific Reports, researchers used advanced network analysis to understand the web of connections linking metacognitive beliefs, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function.
Metacognitive beliefs refer to what we believe about our own thoughts. For example:
“I can’t control my worrying thoughts” (a negative metacognitive belief)
“Worrying helps me solve problems” (a positive metacognitive belief)
Researchers recruited 146 individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder and compared them to 138 healthy controls, matching them by age, sex, and education. Participants completed:
Clinical interviews for depression
Self-report measures of subjective cognitive complaints (e.g., attention slips, memory failures)
A battery of objective cognitive tests (e.g., memory recall, attention switching)
A metacognition questionnaire assessing five belief dimensions including beliefs about worry, controllability of thoughts, and general self-awareness.
The key aim was to identify which factors were most central in the psychological network and how these differed between the depressed and non-depressed groups. They also tracked a subset of participants over 12 months to see how changes unfolded over time.
Here are the key findings:
Negative metacognitive beliefs—especially negative beliefs about the uncontrollability of thoughts—were the most central node in the psychological network, connecting strongly with both depressive symptoms and subjective cognitive complaints.
By creating rumination and worry, negative metacognitive beliefs had harmful effects on emotional health and self-perception.
The link between metacognitive beliefs and subjective complaints was stronger in people with depression. Depressed individuals showed tight connections between beliefs like “I can’t control my thoughts” and their experience of memory and attention failures.
Objective cognitive performance was less connected in the network overall. Negative metacognitive beliefs impacted how people felt about their cognitive ability, but not necessarily the actual quality of their cognitive ability.
Longitudinal analysis showed that changes in negative metacognitive beliefs predicted future increases in both depressive symptoms and cognitive complaints, but the reverse was not true. In other words, how people thought about their thinking shaped how they felt—not just in the moment, but months down the line.
These findings support a “metacognitive model” for emotional well-being, which suggests that beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger of one’s own thoughts can trap people in cycles of rumination and self-doubt. Over time, this can distort how people perceive their own mental functioning, making them feel cognitively impaired even when they’re performing perfectly well.
⭐️ Takeaway tips
#1. Question your beliefs about your own thoughts
Your beliefs about your own thinking and bodily sensations are critical in shaping your general emotional outlook. If you often think “I can’t stop worrying” or “I’m losing my memory,” take a step back. These thoughts may reflect beliefs about your thinking rather than the actual qualities of your mind. Practice noticing and challenging them rather than letting them spiral.
#2. Subjective cognitive problems aren’t necessarily evidence of decline
If you’re struggling with your emotional health or feeling like your memory or attention is slipping, it might not reflect actual cognitive deficits. Beliefs and moods can heavily distort how people perceive their mental acuity. Nurturing a more balanced self-assessment helps to reduce unnecessary worry and build confidence. Notice when you’re zooming in too much on the state of your own mind and take a step back before getting lost in mental ruminations.
#3. Give your thoughts the same kindness you'd offer a friend
We often judge our own thinking more harshly than we’d judge someone else’s. If a friend said they were worrying about becoming forgetful or struggling to focus, you’d likely be supportive in pointing out any overly pessimistic self-perceptions. Try applying that same compassion to your own cognitive patterns. Negative self-perceptions are often temporary thoughts that will pass, not factual descriptions that define who you are.
“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”
~ Abraham Maslow