I just started reading about the 'undermining of cognitive fusion' and can see the connections to behaviors that we all perform in daily lives (e.g., the avoidance of saying hi to a stranger because we think they, "What if I look at them and say hi and they look at me weird or like I'm stalking them, and what if they think that I am stalking them and call the cops, will they think I'm going to harm them in anyway, maybe I'll not even make eye contact to avoid any confusion of my intensions").
This can relate very closely to stuttering the consistent behaviors we see in clients (and myself) with respect to certain speaking situations that are high up on the fears hierarchy (e.g., phone calls, talking in class or any public speaking what so ever, asking a stranger for directions, ordering food at a restaurant, etc). Simple thoughts that are connected to experiential control like "I will stutter like hell because I'm dumb and can't talk" can be governing thoughts that people who stutter (PWS) perceive as controlling their every action. A common thought is "I'm not as good as everyone else because I stutter, so I just won't talk as much." These type thoughts would require the therapist to get the client to come to terms with these thoughts and then desensitize them to these thoughts and just think of them as words and nothing more. A therapist needs to emphases that it is the willingness to put stock in those thoughts that gives the power to those thoughts. In essences they need to perform a coup in order to overthrow the power that these words have on behaviors before looking at the stuttering behaviors.
Defusion of cognitive thoughts, I believe, is a vital therapeutic tool for people who stutter. I know personally, I'm currently making daily attempts to confront these thoughts and accept stuttering. I will try and think of my thoughts as words and attempt to take out the semantic meaning, my perceived meaning to them, from now on. Even now I have thoughts that people will read this and think "what is he talking about..." This phrase is on a string of words that broken apart means nothing.
lates on the flip side,
Scott