Abstract
No research, to date, has directly investigated the role of metacognition in self-critical rumination and low self-esteem. The aims of this study are: to investigate the presence of metacognitive beliefs about self-critical rumination; the goal of self-critical rumination and its stop signal; and the degree of detachment from intrusive self-critical thoughts. Ten individuals reporting both a self-acknowledged tendency to judge themselves critically and having low self-esteem were assessed using metacognitive profiling, a semi-structured interview. All participants endorsed both positive and negative metacognitive beliefs about self-critical rumination. Positive metacognitive beliefs concerned the usefulness of self-critical rumination as a means of improving cognitive performance and enhancing motivation. Negative metacognitive beliefs concerned the uncontrollability of self-critical rumination and its negative impact on mood, motivation and perception of self-worth. The primary goal of engaging in self-critical rumination was to achieve a better or clearer understanding of a given trigger situation or to feel more motivated to resolve it. However, only four participants were able to identify when this goal had been achieved, which was if the trigger situation were not to occur again. Participants unanimously stated that they were either unable to detach from their self-critical thoughts or could do so some of the time with varying degrees of success. More often than not, though, self-critical thoughts were viewed as facts, would rarely be seen as distorted or biased, and could take hours or days to dissipate. These findings provide preliminary evidence that specific facets of metacognition play a role in the escalation and perseveration of self-critical rumination.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental health disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental and theoretical aspects. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Borton, J. L. S., Crimmins, A. E., Ashby, R. S., & Ruddiman, J. F. (2012). How do individuals with fragile high self-esteem cope with intrusive thoughts following ego threat? Self and Identity, 11, 16–35.
Bosson, J. K., Swann, W. B., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2000). Stalking the perfect measure of implicit self-esteem: The blind men and the elephant revisited? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 631–643.
Brown, J. D., & Marshall, M. A. (2006). The three faces of self-esteem. In M. H. Kernis (Ed.), Self-esteem issues and answers: A sourcebook of current perspectives (pp. 4–9). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Cameron, J., MacGregor, J., & Kwang, T. (2013). Badge of honor or mark of shame: Self-esteem as an interpersonal signal. In V. Zeigler-Hill (Ed.), Self-esteem (pp. 145–162). London: Psychology Press.
Caselli, G., Ferretti, C., Leoni, M., Rebecchi, D., Rovetto, F., & Spada, M. M. (2010). Rumination as a predictor of drinking behaviour in alcohol abusers: A prospective study. Addiction, 105, 1041–1048.
Caselli, G., & Spada, M. M. (2010). Metacognitions in desire thinking: A preliminary investigation. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 38(5), 629–637.
Driscoll, R. (1989). Self-condemnation: A comprehensive framework for assessment and treatment. Psychotherapy: Theory Research, Practice, Training, 26, 104–111.
Ellis, A. (1996). How I learned to help clients feel better and get better. Psychotherapy, 22(1), 149–151.
Fennell, M. J. V. (1997). Low self-esteem: A cognitive perspective. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 25, 1–25.
Fernie, B. A., & Spada, M. M. (2008). Metacognitions about procrastination: A preliminary investigation. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 36, 359–364.
Fernie, B. A., Spada, M. M., Chaudhuri, K. R., Klingelhoefer, L., & Brown, R. G. (2015). Thinking about motor fluctuations: An examination of metacognitions in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 79(6), 669–673. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2015.05.001.
Gilbert, P. (1997). Overcoming depression: A self-guide using cognitive behavioural techniques. London: Robinsons.
Gilbert, P., Clarke, M., Hempel, S., Miles, J. N. V., & Irons, C. (2004). Criticizing and reassuring oneself: An exploration of forms, styles and reasons in female students. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43, 31–50.
Gilbert, P., & Procter, S. (2006). Compassionate mind training for people with high shame and self-criticism: Overview and pilot study of a group therapy approach. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 13, 353–379.
Grzegorek, J. L., Slaney, R. B., Franze, S., & Rice, K. G. (2004). Self-criticism, dependency, self-esteem, and grade point average satisfaction among clusters of perfectionists and nonperfectionists. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 192–200.
Heimpel, S. A., Wood, J. V., Marshall, M. A., & Brown, J. D. (2002). Do people with low self-esteem really want to feel better? Self-esteem differences in motivation to repair negative moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 128–147.
Jordan, C. H., Logel, C., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P. (2006). Nonconscious self-esteem: Is there something you’re not telling yourself? In M. H. Kernis (Ed.), Self-esteem issues and answers: A sourcebook of current perspectives1 (pp. 60–68). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Kernis, M. H., Lakey, C. E., & Heppner, W. L. (2008). Secure versus fragile high self-esteem as a predictor of verbal defensiveness: Converging findings across three different markers. Journal of Personality, 76, 477–512.
Kuster, F., Orth, U., & Meier, L. L. (2012). Rumination mediates the prospective effect of low self-esteem on depression: A five-wave longitudinal study. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 747–759.
Moller, A. C., Friedman, R., & Deci, E. L. (2006). A self-determination theory perspective on the interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects of self-esteem. In M. H. Kernis (Ed.), Self-esteem issues and answers: A sourcebook of current perspectives (pp. 188–194). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Mruk, C. J. (2013). Self-esteem and positive psychology: Research, theory, and practice (4th ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
Nikčević, A. V., & Spada, M. M. (2010). Metacognitions about smoking: A preliminary investigation. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 17, 536–542.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 400–424.
Noordenbos, G., Aliakbari, N., & Campbell, R. (2014). The relationship among critical inner voices, low self-esteem, and self-criticism in eating disorders. Eating Disorders, 22, 337–351.
O’Brien, E. J., Bartoletti, M., & Leitzel, J. D. (2006). Self-Esteem, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. In M. H. Kernis (Ed.), Self-esteem issues and answers: A sourcebook of current perspectives (pp. 306–315). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
O’Connor, R. C., & Noyce, R. (2008). Personality and cognitive processes: Self-criticism and different types of rumination as predictors of suicidal ideation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 392–401.
Pack, S., & Condren, E. (2014). An evaluation of group cognitive behaviour therapy for low self-esteem in primary care. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 7(e7), 1–10.
Papageorgiou, C., & Wells, A. (2001). Metacognitive beliefs about rumination in recurrent major depression. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 8, 160–164.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Shahar, G. (2015). Erosion: The psychopathology of self-criticism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Smart, L. M., Peters, J. R., & Baer, R. A. (2015). Development and validation of a measure of self-critical rumination. Assessment. doi:10.1177/1073191115573300.
Sowislo, J. F., & Orth, U. (2013). Does low self-esteem predict depression and anxiety? A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 213–240.
Spada, M. M., Giustina, L., Rolandi, S., Fernie, B. A., & Caselli, G. (2014). Profiling metacognition in gambling disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 43(5), 614–622.
Spada, M. M., & Wells, A. (2006). Metacognitions about alcohol use in problem drinkers. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 13, 138–143.
Spasojević, J., & Alloy, L. B. (2001). Rumination as a common mechanism relating depressive risk factors to depression. Emotion, 1, 25–37.
Thompson, B. L., & Waltz, J. A. (2008). Mindfulness, self-esteem, and unconditional self-acceptance. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, 26(2), 119–126.
Treynor, W., Gonzalez, R., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2003). Rumination reconsidered: A psychometric analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 247–259.
Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2013). Development of self-esteem. In V. Zeigler-Hill (Ed.), self-esteem (pp. 60–79). London, UK: Psychology Press.
Waite, P., McManus, F., & Shafran, R. (2012). Cognitive behaviour therapy for low self-esteem: A preliminary randomized controlled trial in a primary care setting. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 43, 1049–1057.
Wells, A. (2000). Emotional disorders and metacognition: Innovative cognitive therapy. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Wells, A. (2009). Metacognitive therapy for anxiety and depression. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Wells, A. (2013). Advances in metacognitive therapy. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 6, 186–201.
Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and emotion: A clinical perspective. Hove, UK: Erlbaum.
Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1996). Modelling cognition in emotional disorder: The S-REF model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 881–888.
Wells, A., & Papageorgiou, C. (1995). Worry and the incubation of intrusive images following stress. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 579–583.
Whelton, W. J., & Greenberg, L. S. (2005). Emotion in self-criticism. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1583–1595.
Zeigler-Hill, V. (2013). The importance of self-esteem. In V. Zeigler-Hill (Ed.), Self-esteem (pp. 1–20). London, UK: Psychology Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Funding
This study did not receive any funding.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kolubinski, D.C., Nikčević, A.V., Lawrence, J.A. et al. The Role of Metacognition in Self-Critical Rumination: An Investigation in Individuals Presenting with Low Self-Esteem. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 34, 73–85 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-015-0230-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-015-0230-y