The Study of the Effectiveness of Metacognitive Therapy on Depressive Symptoms and Life Expectancy of Women with Breast Cancer

Breast cancer, being the most common type of cancer among women, causes anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and anger. Metacognitive therapy is a new approach that puts emphasis on reducing useless cognitive processes instead of the cognitive content of thoughts and also on facilitating metacognitive processing. Based on the single-case experimental research, the study intended to examine the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy on depression and hope-to-life in women with breast cancer. The study drew on a multiple-baseline design in which three individuals from Women’s Breast Cancer Association in Tabriz received the intended 8-session treatment. The instruments used for data gathering were Beck Depression Inventory (BDI –II) and Life Expectancy scale. Results show that the highest percentage of improvement was related to physical and emotional symptoms of depression and also to the life expectancy, which was 75% and the lowest percentage was 50%. Concerning the cognitive symptoms of depression, the highest percentage of improvement was 100% and the lowest was 50%. Findings also suggest that the effectiveness of the metacognitive therapy for the three participants was consistent at the follow-up testing. Therefore, it is suggested that metacognitive therapy be used for reducing depression and increasing life expectancy in women with breast cancer.