Metacognitive Beliefs and Coping Strategies of Suicide Attempters

Abstract

Objective: Metacognition is an essential process regarding decision-making and coping with stressful life events. In this present study, we aimed to examine the metacognitive beliefs and coping strategies of suicide attempters with subthreshold depressive symptoms. Methods: Thirty suicide attempters (mean age of 25.50 +/- 7.66 years) with subthreshold depressive symptoms and 30 healthy participants (mean age of 28.27 +/- 7.13 years) were compared with regard to Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) and COPE Questionnaire. Results: The MANOVA results revealed significant differences between the groups for the subscales of MCQ-30 namely, "negative beliefs about thoughts", "need to control thoughts" and "lack of cognitive confidence". The results also indicated significant difference regarding "positive reinterpretation", "seeking social support for instrumental reasons", "active coping, planning, and problem-focused coping", "behavioral disengagement", "alcohol-drug disengagement" and "dysfunctional coping" subscales of COPE Questionnaire. In addition, moderate correlations were found between the MCQ-30 and the COPE subscales based on the Pearson's correlation coefficients. Conclusions: This study revealed the effect of particular metacognitive beliefs and type of coping style on suicidal behavior. This study is important for identifying risk factors and explaining how metacognitive beliefs and coping strategies are related to suicidal behavior. Maladaptive metacognitions may lead to overestimation of perceived stress and underestimation of cognitive resources and coping skills which may prevent individulas to produce adaptive coping strategies against stressful life events.