Journal of International Psychiatry

As an indicator of the ability of mentalization, metacognition includes whole knowledge,experience, and monitor relating to the understanding,thinking and regulating of cognition and emotion.The concept of metacognition was formally proposed by American developmental psychologist Flavel in 1976.Since then, scholars conducted extensive researches of it,which has become one of psychological focuses.Metacognition has been applied extensively to clinical studies of mental disorder patients abroad,while those in China are limited. Questionnaires and interviews are two measurements commonly used by researchers.These two methods show different advantages in different studies.This paper combs and summarizes the development of the concept of metacognition,its clinical application and its measurement.We discuss current problems and future directions of clinical study concerning metacognition.

Metacognition；Component of metacognition；Clinical application；Method of measurement.