diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 71df667392..927424545f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 ## 8.0.10-dev
 
 * Un-deprecate the `--resources-dir` option.
+* Remove support for `[this]` as a comment reference. Referring to the
+  containing element can be written as `this [Foo]`, and referring to 'this'
+  can just be written as `` `this` ``.
 
 ## 8.0.9
 
diff --git a/lib/src/dartdoc_options.dart b/lib/src/dartdoc_options.dart
index 237944cbc0..a529ba6b71 100644
--- a/lib/src/dartdoc_options.dart
+++ b/lib/src/dartdoc_options.dart
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ abstract class DartdocOption<T extends Object?> {
   U getValueAs<U>(String name, Folder dir) =>
       _children[name]?.valueAt(dir) as U;
 
-  /// Apply the function [visit] to [this] and all children.
+  /// Apply the function [visit] to this [DartdocOption] and all children.
   void traverse(void Function(DartdocOption option) visit) {
     visit(this);
     for (var value in _children.values) {
diff --git a/lib/src/model/container.dart b/lib/src/model/container.dart
index e4bd324ba6..88def839d6 100644
--- a/lib/src/model/container.dart
+++ b/lib/src/model/container.dart
@@ -242,7 +242,6 @@ abstract class Container extends ModelElement
             .addEntriesIfAbsent(modelElement.parameters.generateEntries());
       }
     }
-    referenceChildren['this'] = this;
     return referenceChildren;
   }();
 
diff --git a/test/end2end/model_test.dart b/test/end2end/model_test.dart
index bd4e326290..62d2882c54 100644
--- a/test/end2end/model_test.dart
+++ b/test/end2end/model_test.dart
@@ -2742,9 +2742,6 @@ void main() async {
                 doAwesomeStuff, 'BaseForDocComments.aNonDefaultConstructor'),
             equals(MatchingLinkResult(aNonDefaultConstructor)));
 
-        expect(referenceLookup(doAwesomeStuff, 'this'),
-            equals(MatchingLinkResult(baseForDocComments)));
-
         expect(referenceLookup(doAwesomeStuff, 'value'),
             equals(MatchingLinkResult(doAwesomeStuffParam)));