Purpose: See thoughts as what they are, not as what they say they are.
Method: Expand attention to thinking and experiencing as an ongoing behavioral process, not a causal, ontological result
When to use: When private events are functioning as barriers due to FEAR (fusion, evaluation, avoidance, reasons)
Examples of defusion techniques
| ‘The Mind” | Treat “the mind” as an external event; almost as a separate person |
| Mental appreciation | Thank your mind; show aesthetic appreciation for its products |
| Cubbyholing | Label private events as to kind or function in a back channel communication |
| “I’m having the thought that …” | Include category labels in descriptions of private events |
| Commitment to openness | Ask if the content is acceptable when negative content shows up |
| Just noticing | Use the language of observation (e.g., noticing) when talking about thoughts |
| “Buying” thoughts | Use active language to distinguish thoughts and beliefs |
| Titchener’s repetition | Repeat the difficult thought until you can hear it |
| Physicalizing | Label the physical dimensions of thoughts |
| Put them out there | Sit next to the client and put each thought and experience out in front of you both as an object |
| Open mindfulness | Watching thoughts as external objects without use or involvement |
| Focused mindfulness | Direct attention to nonliteral dimensions of experience |
| Sound it out | Say difficult thoughts very, very slowly |
| Sing it out | Sing your thoughts |
| Silly voices | Say your thoughts in other voices -- a Donald Duck voice for example |
| Experiential seeking | Openly seek out more material, especially if it is difficult |
| Polarities | Strengthen the evaluative component of a thought and watch it pull its opposite |
| Arrogance of word | Try to instruct nonverbal behavior |
| Think the opposite | Engage in behavior while trying to command the opposite |
| Your mind is not your friend | Suppose your mind is mindless; who do you trust, your experience or your mind |
| Who would be made wrong by that? | If a miracle happened and this cleared up without any change in (list reasons), who would be made wrong by that? |
| Strange loops | Point out a literal paradox inherent in normal thinking |
| Thoughts are not causes | “Is it possible to think that thought, as a thought, AND do x?” |
| Choose being right or choose being alive | If you have to pay with one to play for the other, which do you choose? |
| There are four people in here | Open strategize how to connect when minds are listening |
| Monsters on the bus | Treating scary private events as monsters on a bus you are driving |
| Feed the tiger | Like feeding a tiger, you strengthen the impact of thoughts but dealing with them |
| Who is in charge here? | Treat thoughts as bullies; use colorful language |
| Carrying around a dead person | Treat conceptualized history as rotting meat |
| Take your mind for a walk | Walk behind the client chattering mind talk while they choose where to walk |
| How old is this? Is this just like you? | Step out of content and ask these questions |
| And what is that in the service of? | Step out of content and ask this question |
| OK, you are right. Now what? | Take “right” as a given and focus on action |
| Mary had a little …. | Say a common phrase and leave out the last word; link to automaticity of thoughts the client is struggling with |
| Get off your buts | Replace virtually all self-referential uses of “but” with “and” |
| What are the numbers? | Teach a simple sequence of numbers and then harass the client regarding the arbitrariness and yet permanence of this mental event |
| Why, why, why? | Show the shallowness of causal explanations by repeatedly asking “why” |
| Create a new story | Write down the normal story, then repeatedly integrate those facts into other stories |
| Find a free thought | Ask client to find a free thought, unconnected to anything |
| Do not think “x” | Specify a thought not to think and notice that you do |
| Find something that can’t be evaluated | Look around the room and notice that every single thing can be evaluated negatively |
| Flip cards | Write difficult thoughts on 3 x 5 cards; flip them on the client’s lap vs. keep them off |
| Carry cards | Write difficult thoughts on 3 x 5 cards and carry them with you |
| Carry your keys | Assign difficult thoughts and experiences to the clients keys. Ask the client to think the thought as a thought each time the keys are handled, and then carry them from there |
These clinical materials were assembled by Elizabeth Gifford, Steve Hayes, and Kirk Stroshal