The effectiveness of metacognitive therapy on rumination, tolerance of ambiguity and perception worry in students with social anxiety disorder

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy on rumination, tolerance of ambiguity and perception worry in students with social anxiety disorder.

The research was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population included all female high school students in Kermanshah in 2021, who were selected by available sampling method and 30 were randomly assigned to two equal groups of 15 experimental and control. Data were collected using the Nolen-Hooksma and Murrow (1991) rumination questionnaire, the McLean Ambiguity Tolerance Questionnaire (2009), the Meyer et al (1990) Pennsylvania State worry Questionnaire (1990), and the Lajerka and Lopez (1998) Adolescent Social Anxiety Questionnaire. For statistical analysis, in addition to descriptive statistics and parametric statistical defaults, multivariate analysis of covariance with SPSS software version 26 was used.

The results showed that metacognitive therapy in the post-test phase had an effect on improving rumination score, tolerance of ambiguity and worry perception in the experimental group but the scores of research dependent variables in the control group did not show a significant change (P <0.05).

Due to the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy, considering this type of treatment as part of the treatment program in order to improve mental health can be beneficial and should be considered by counselors and psychologists.