Sanchez-Escamilla Francisco, Redondo-Delgado Marta, Jímenez-Ros Antonia María, Pérez-Nieto Miguel Ángel
HM Faculty of Health Sciences, Camilo José Cela University, Madrid, Spain.
HM Hospitals Health Research Institute, Madrid, Spain.
Front Psychol. 2025 Aug 20;16:1639105. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1639105. eCollection 2025.
Although metacognitive therapy (MCT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) are grounded in different theoretical frameworks, both target repetitive negative thinking (RNT) processes, such as worry and rumination, and share a focus on fostering psychological flexibility and reducing experiential avoidance. However, no integrated theoretical model currently exists to combine their potential strengths. Recent research highlights the importance of metacognitive beliefs and acceptance-related processes in maintaining maladaptive RNT.
This study aimed to explore metacognitive and acceptance-based variables in relation to RNT.
The sample consisted of 149 people (116 females), aged between 18 and 71 (M = 34.7; SD = 14.9) who answered the following questionnaires: PSWQ, The AAQ-II, The CFQ, The VQ, MCQ-30 and TCQ.
The mediation analysis reveals that cognitive fusion significantly mediated the relationship between metacognitive beliefs and worry, whereas acceptance had a weaker mediating effect.
Beliefs about the uncontrollability of worry appear to play a pivotal role in sustaining worry, primarily through their influence on cognitive fusion. These findings provide preliminary support for conceptual overlaps between MCT and ACT in addressing RNT. However, as this is an exploratory and cross-sectional study, conclusions about treatment mechanisms should be drawn cautiously, and future longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to strengthen these insights.
尽管元认知疗法（MCT）和接纳与承诺疗法（ACT）基于不同的理论框架，但二者均针对反复出现的消极思维（RNT）过程，如担忧和沉思，且都注重培养心理灵活性并减少经验性回避。然而，目前尚无整合的理论模型来融合它们的潜在优势。近期研究强调了元认知信念和与接纳相关的过程在维持适应不良的RNT中的重要性。
本研究旨在探讨与RNT相关的元认知和基于接纳的变量。
样本包括149人（116名女性），年龄在18至71岁之间（M = 34.7；SD = 14.9），他们回答了以下问卷：PSWQ、AAQ-II、CFQ、VQ、MCQ-30和TCQ。
中介分析表明，认知融合显著中介了元认知信念与担忧之间的关系，而接纳的中介作用较弱。
关于担忧不可控性的信念似乎在维持担忧方面起着关键作用，主要是通过其对认知融合的影响。这些发现为MCT和ACT在解决RNT方面的概念重叠提供了初步支持。然而，由于这是一项探索性横断面研究，关于治疗机制的结论应谨慎得出，未来需要进行纵向和实验研究以强化这些见解。
