About us

Who We Are

ADePT was formed in 2020 as a joint project between Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) and the metacognitive therapy research group led by Professor Wells at the University of Manchester.

Our Research

The Anxiety, Depression and Psychological Therapies Research Unit (ADePT-RU) conducts cutting edge evidenced based research aiming to improve our understanding and treatment of mental health disorders in adults and children. Currently our research is testing treatments for anxiety and depression in patients with cardiovascular disease, and treating anxiety and depression in burns and plastic surgery patients, evaluating home-based therapies, and transdiagnostic group therapy approaches in adults and young people.

 

To make our research happen we work with a range of leading academic and clinical partners along with patients and members of the public to ensure our research is in line with patient’s needs and provides direct patient benefits.

Visit the MCT Institute Website HERE

MCT is a novel, evidence-based treatment approach with an explicit focus on metacognition, defined as “cognition applied to cognition” – MCT functions at the meta-level, in which thoughts are unimportant but the way an individual responds to and regulates their thoughts is considered crucial for the cause and maintenance of the psychological disorder.

OUR KEY AIMS

Improve

We aim to ultimately improve the understanding and the treatment of mental health disorders

Evaluate

We aim to develop and evaluate evidence-based interventions for mental health disorders

Understand

We aim to understand the causal and treatment mechanisms across mental health disorders

Our Treatment Approaches

How is MCT different to other types of therapy?

Thinking Style

MCT focuses on modifying the control of a person’s thinking style, rather than the content of their general thoughts/cognition/schemas - often challenged by CBT approaches.

Transdiagnostic Approach

MCT is transdiagnostic whereby disorder-specific cognitions are less important than the universal cognitive processes that are modified in MCT.

MCT vs CBT

MCT and CBT deal with different areas of cognition. CBT deals with the content of thoughts and beliefs and how realistic or distorted they are. MCT deals with the factors that regulate repetitive negative thinking and focuses on the content of metacognitive beliefs, an important domain of higher-level cognition.

What is MCT

Latest Research

Metacognitive therapy (MCT) is a recent treatment that is proving to be highly effective for a range of anxiety disorders and depression. A special issue in the Journal Frontiers in Psychology presents recent research in MCT by members of ADePT and our international collaborators. The special issue brings together 100 academics and clinicians from across the world contributing to 31 articles and has been viewed over 300, 000 times.