Metacognition among those reporting psychotic symptoms is associated with a distortion in the way they understand their own and others’ mental states. Recent advances suggest that distortion in the form of self-criticism may activate a threat response and fuel symptom expression. At high level of self-criticism metacognition may reduce its protective role towards psychosis. Here, we explored whether the associations between impaired self-reflectivity and delusional ideation would decrease in the presence of self-criticism. A moderated regression model confirmed our hypothesis in a large sample of healthy young adults (N = 2065) even when controlled for sex, education, and family income. Our findings suggest how interventions aimed at reducing symptoms and promoting metacognition should always be interconnected with those targeting self-criticism.

报告精神病症状的人的元认知与他们理解自己和他人精神状态的方式的扭曲有关。最近的进展表明，自我批评形式的扭曲可能会激活威胁反应并加剧症状表达。在高水平的自我批评中，元认知可能会降低其对精神病的保护作用。在这里，我们探讨了在自我批评的情况下，受损的自我反思和妄想观念之间的关联是否会减少。即使在对性别、教育和家庭收入进行控制的情况下，一个适度的回归模型也证实了我们在健康年轻成人（N = 2065）的大样本中的假设。我们的研究结果表明，旨在减轻症状和促进元认知的干预措施应始终与针对自我批评的干预措施相互关联。