Comparison of Maladaptive Schemas, Metacognitive and Meta-emotional Components in Individuals with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder and Healthy Individuals

Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a pattern of problems that usually occurs in childhood but may continue into adulthood. According to reports, 60 to 85% of people who receive this diagnosis in childhood have the criteria for the disorder in adolescence, and up to 60% of their symptoms continue into adulthood. Emotional instability, job and academic failure, and alcohol abuse are among the characteristics of ADHD, which are effective in forming and reinforcing maladaptive schemas. The schemas that are more prominent in adult patients with ADHD (such as failure and shame) fit well with their learning history and main symptoms. In fact, schemas are conceptualized as information processing structures and, as expected, are the basis of cognitive and metacognitive thoughts and beliefs that are also necessary for understanding emotional experiences in one's life. The term metacognition is defined as the knowledge of cognitive processes. Metacognition affects human cognitive processing through processes such as control, monitoring, planning, and correction, and interacts with a person's emotional processing or mental health. The concept of meta-emotion as first introduced by Gottman et al. (1996) and has since been extended to other fields. Meta-emotions are divided into two dimensions: positive meta-emotions (meta self-compassion and meta-interest and negative meta-emotions (including meta-anger, meta-shame / meta self-humiliation, meta-control of thought, and self-prevention of emotion). People with positive emotions are less likely to make inappropriate and hasty decisions which suppresses their thoughts and emotions. The present study aimed to compare the maladaptive schemas, metacognitive beliefs and positive meta-emotions in people with ADHD and normal adults.

The present study was a causal comparative study in term of design and the statistical population included all adults with ADHD in Isfahan in the fall of 2021. The research sample consisted of 60 adults, 30 of whom had ADHD and 30 normal adults who were selected by convenient methods and referring to two counseling centers in Isfahan. Inclusion criteria include 1) age range of 18 to 60 years, and 2) the presence or absence of symptoms of ADHD (according to the cut score 55) and the exclusion criteria include medication and treatment for ADHD / Attention deficit. Research questionnaires included: 1- Young's Early Maladaptive Schemas Questionnaire (Young, 2005) contains 75 questions that evaluate 15 schemas and 5 domains. Young and Brown found the convergent validity of the questionnaire equal to 0.56 and Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole test was 0.96. 2- Metacognitive Beliefs and Positive Meta-emotion Questionnaire (Beer and Monte, 2010) has 18 questions, whose validity coefficient was equal to 0.54 and reliability through Cronbach's alpha was equal to 0.73 (19). At the inferential level, the Shapiro-Wilk and Levin tests were used to check the presuppositions, and the independent t-test was used to check the main objective of the researches. All statistical analyzes were performed using the SPSS software version 26.

The results of the t-test in incompatible schemas showed that adults with ADHD in the areas of rejection (p<0.001), impaired self-management and performance (p<0.001), impaired limits and boundaries (p<0.001), misdirection (p0.001) <), alertness and inhibition (p<0.001), have obtained higher scores than normal adults. The results showed that normal adults in total score of metacognitions _ excitement (p<0.001) and the components of trust in extinguishing stable emotions (p<0.001), preventing immediate reaction/setting the mind to solve the problem (p<0.001), Trust in flexible goals and practical goals (p<0.001) and positive metacognition and positive meta excitement (p<0.001) have obtained higher scores than adults with ADHD.

By identifying maladaptive schemas and positive metacognitive and meta-motional beliefs, can be helped to improve ADHD in adults.