Metacognitive model of obsessive compulsive disorder

Wells' metacognitive model provides an evidence based and comprehensive explanation of obsessive compulsive symptoms. In the metacognitive model of OCD presented by Wells, three main areas of metacognitive belief that lead to obsessive symptoms are thought fusion beliefs, beliefs about rituals and beliefs about stop signals. Specific scales developed to evaluate these three beliefs are few in the literature. This study aimed to investigate the role of metacognition on OC complaints in the Turkish sample. The metacognition scale scores were significantly higher in the sample who diagnosed with OCD (N: 106) compared to the control sample (N: 200). Three metacognitions were found a significant positive correlation with OCD symptoms in both OCD sample and the control sample. Worry, OC cognitions (threat, perfectionism / certainty and responsibility) and the effect of three OC metacognitive domains on predicting OC symptoms were analyzed using the regression model in which OCI-R is a dependent variable. In addition to the three metacognitive domains, worry and perfectionism-certainty find a statistically significant relationship with OC symptoms. When worry, TFI, BARI and SSQ entered the hierarchical regression model as planned, all three metacognitive domains continued to explain statistically significant additional variance. OC symptoms based on the opinion of the clinician were partially explained by the metacognitive model (beliefs about rituals only). The results of this study provide evidence supporting the metacognitive model of OCD. The results of this study provided evidence for metacognitive intervention areas that can be used in clinical interventions for OCD patients.