comparison of behavioral inhibition and metacognitive thinking and cognitive fusion in self-injured and normal people

Introduction: self-injury encompasses not just physical sensations but also includes psychological, emotional, and social dimensions. the present study aimed to compare behavioral inhibition and metacognitive thinking and cognitive fusion in self-injured and normal people.method: this study is a causal-comparative research. the statistical population for the study consisted of individuals with a history of self-injurious behaviors who sought treatment at psychological clinics in shiraz from july to september 2023. the research employed purposive sampling as the sampling method. at the end, the data of 53 participants was analyzed. the data collection tools utilized in this study were the measure of behavioral inhibition (2005), cognitive fusion scale (2014), and meta-cognition questionnaire (2004). data analysis was conducted using the manova and independent samples t-test and welch’s t-test through spss version 27 software.results: according to findings, the observed difference in the mean of behavioral inhibition, positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about the controllability of thoughts, and cognitive uncertainty in two groups with self-injury and without self-injury was significant (p<0.05).conclusion: the findings of this research suggest that individuals who engage in self-harm display notable disparities in terms of behavioral inhibition and metacognitive thinking in comparison to those who do not self-harm. however, there is no significant divergence observed in cognitive fusion between the two groups. the study reveals that individuals with self-injury exhibit higher levels of behavioral inhibition harbor negative beliefs about their ability to control thoughts, and experience cognitive uncertainty more frequently than individuals without self-injury. conversely, individuals without self-injury tend to possess stronger positive beliefs about worry compared to those with self-injury.