The Use of Defusion in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) 

This is the second in a series of posts about the 6 Core Processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I utilize ACT with many of my clients because I find it to be a helpful framework for getting to the root of 2 things: 

1. What is really bothering someone and 
2. What they can DO about it.

It’s no secret that the acronym for Acceptance and Commitment therapy is the verb ACT, because there is a strong belief that doing things is the way that a person gets to have a rich, full, and meaningful life, even if that life is often painful, frustrating, or disappointing. In this way, all 6 ACT processes involve doing something (even if that doing is making a list, thinking carefully, or meditating). The second process (even though they aren’t generally listed in a specific order) is Cognitive Defusion. 

Dropping the Rope 

Imagine that you have been pulling on a rope in a dark room that just won’t budge. At first, you might think you are playing tug-of-war, and another person is pulling on the opposite end of the rope. Eventually, someone turns on a light, making it crystal clear to you that no other person is holding the rope because it is embedded in a brick wall. So, now you are given a choice. Do you keep pulling on the rope, or do you just set it down? If the above example seems like a silly metaphor, that’s because it is! Wrestling with our critical, anxious, or depressive thoughts can often feel like pulling on a rope stuck in a brick wall. In ACT, we refer to being stuck pulling on the rope as fusion with your thoughts. You won’t make any progress arguing with these thoughts, and your best course of action might be to do something else. An ACT therapist might call this metaphor “putting down the rope,” and it’s a good way to understand what successfully practicing the ACT process of Cognitive Defusion feels like. 

Fusion is common in anxiety, depression, OCD, and ADHD. In ACT Made Simple, author Russ Harris says that, “In a state of fusion, a thought can seem like:  the absolute truth, a command you have to obey or a rule you have to follow, a threat you need to get rid of as soon as possible,  something that’s happening right here and now even though it’s about the past or the future, something very important that requires all your attention, something you won’t let go of even if it worsens your life.” 

Watch Your Thoughts 

Cognitive Defusion, which I’ll just be calling defusion from now on, is the process of stepping back from your thoughts, images, urges, and memories. It’s like treating your thoughts like a movie on a screen or like the scenery passing outside the window of a train. Fusion is the opposite; it’s when people treat their thoughts as always true, sacred, and inflexible. ACT therapists usually instruct their clients to “watch your thoughts” when teaching them defusion. This has two meanings: watch your thoughts pass without engaging with them, and “watch out” for thoughts that aren’t necessarily true and want to drag you into rumination or distraction. A person fusing with their thoughts might be described as “in their thoughts,” while a person who is practicing defusion is “observing their thoughts.” 

Why is Defusion even important? 

1. Some of your thoughts aren’t true or helpful. Defusion allows you to separate the “signal from the noise.”
2.  You can’t make good decisions if you are ruminating. Rumination is the mental act of replaying negative thoughts over and over without getting any new information or perspective. It often feels like “deep thinking” for a short time, but it is associated with higher physiological distress.
3. Getting out of the trap and loop of critiquing and examining your thoughts lets you get on with living your life! 

Workable thoughts 

Defusion is not about judging your thoughts through a “true or false” or “good or bad” lens; it is about sorting thoughts into “workable” or “unworkable”. Workability is the concept around whether what you are doing is working to make your life fuller, richer, or more meaningful. Holding onto and fusing with unworkable ideas is a recipe for feeling frustrated and stuck. 

Lots of people fuse with unworkable thoughts like “I’m going to get fired”, “I’m a stupid person”, or “If I leave this relationship, I’ll be alone forever.” Workable counterparts to these thoughts might be “I’ve had experience getting a job before, and I can probably do it again”, “I can make good decisions for myself”, and “This relationship isn’t what I want anymore, and I can find one that’s right for me.”

Tools to Practice Defusion

There are lots of ways to practice Defusion in your own head or out in the world. Some people like an approach that addresses their thoughts. Others prefer to use humor or creativity, putting unworkable thoughts in perspective, while others use a variety of approaches depending on what they are fusing with. Here are a few ways I’ve taught clients to respond to their thoughts

1. Get into the habit of saying, “I’m having the thought that….” This helps to create some space between your immediate thought and your response to it.
2.  Leaves on a Stream Meditation. This is a guided meditation in which you imagine your thoughts as leaves falling from trees into a gentler stream and out of view. It can help you to sort workable thoughts from nonsense. 
3. Sing a thought in a silly voice. Repeating intrusive or unhelpful thoughts in different voices over and over can help them lose meaning and feel less threatening and convincing. 
4. Write your thoughts as an observer. You can place yourself in the shoes of a friend or a neutral third party rather than labeling the thoughts as your own. 
5. Calling thoughts “stories”. Some stories are true, and some are false. We don’t know if our thoughts are necessarily factual or not. You can continue to read the story or close the book and do something else. 
6. Ask, “Is this thought helpful to me?” You can think of it like decluttering your brain’s closet. 
7. “Zoom Out”. Imagine that you are high above the earth, and the thought is far away. Imagining the thought as distant can make it seem less immediate and pressing. 
8. Label the thought and say “thank you mind for giving me the thought that…” This is especially helpful for responding to thoughts about fears. 
9. In a train of ruminating thoughts, ask, “Ok, what’s next?” Anxious rumination can sometimes feel like a runaway train. It can sometimes feel like stopping the train is an overwhelming task, so go in the other direction. Be curious about the next stop. 
10. Repeat the thought out loud veeeeerrrrrryyyyyyy ssssssslllllllooooooowwwwwlllllyyyyyy. It’s easier to consider and respond to an irrelevant racing thought when your brain isn’t processing it in a second. 

If you have been struggling with difficult thoughts, beating yourself up for past mistakes, or wrapped up in never-ending worries about the future, ACT work – and Defusion – might truly be useful. If you are thinking about beginning therapy and have questions about ACT (or just want to see if working together might click), you can schedule a consultation call with me or another Serengeti Wellness therapist here.

Sources
Harris, R. (2019). ACT Made Simple: An easy-to-read primer on acceptance and commitment therapy (2nd ed.). New Harbinger Publications.