title: Exploring the relationship of decentering to health related concepts and cognitive and metacognitive processes in a student sample.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Decentering, a central change strategy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, is a process of stepping outside of one's own mental events leading to an objective and non-judging stance towards the self. The study aimed at investigating associated mechanisms of decentering.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study investigated the relation of decentering, operationalized by means of the German Version of the Experiences Questionnaire, to severity of depressive symptoms, assessed by the adaptive Rasch-based depression screening, and self-focussed attention, assessed by the Questionnaire of Dysfunctional and Functional Self-Consciousness. Furthermore, the relationship between decentering and a) the ability to shift and allocate attention by means of the Stroop test, and b) metacognitive monitoring, i.e. the absolute difference between judged and real task performance, was investigated. These relationships were examined in 55 healthy students using Pearson's correlations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In line with our assumptions, higher decentering scores were significantly associated with lower scores on severity of depressive symptoms, with higher functional- and lower dysfunctional self-focussed attention. Contrary to our expectations, results neither indicated a relationship between decentering and attention ability, nor between decentering and metacognitive monitoring.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present results suggest that decentering is associated with concepts of mental health (i.e. less severity of depressive symptoms and higher functional self-focussed attention). Overall, the concept decentering seems to be mainly composed of self-focussed aspects when investigated in a healthy sample without intervention. Further investigations of associated concepts of decentering should consider aspects of self-relevance and emotional valence.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 19, 52074, Aachen, Germany. rkessel@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Ramona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kessel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 19, 52074, Aachen, Germany. jgecht@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gecht
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 19, 52074, Aachen, Germany. tforkmann@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Forkmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 19, 52074, Aachen, Germany. bdrueke@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Drueke
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 19, 52074, Aachen, Germany. sgauggel@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gauggel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 19, 52074, Aachen, Germany. vmainz@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mainz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D064866:Mindfulness; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012649:Self Concept; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult