Creating Your Own Cognitive Defusion Techniques

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Start with a thought you are struggling with. Write it down here:

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Next, try and distill the negative sentence into a word that captures the essence of this thought:

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Practice saying this one word for 60 seconds out loud, as fast as you can. Then provide ratings of distress before and after practicing the technique, using the 0-10 scale with 0=low and 10=high.

Practice Log

Date of Word Practice Distress Level Before (0-10) Distress Level After (0-10)

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Now experiment with creating your own defusion technique. Write down some examples that may help you create some distance from this thought and make it something that you observe, but don’t have to believe or take too seriously. Hayes and Smith recommend thinking about how a comedian would treat this thought, or the way The National Enquirer would handle this thought as a way to foster this sense of observing but not having to struggle over its content.¹ Write down some examples here and how this thought might be viewed differently (e.g., if it were spoken out loud by a comedian or written about in The National Enquirer).

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Now, imagine this thought being said or written in this different perspective. Don’t stop until you are sure you have done it long enough to assess its impact. After you have used the technique, Hayes, et al ¹ recommends asking yourself:

• Were you better able to see the thought as a thought?
• Did the believability of the thought go down?
• Did the distress caused by the thought go down?

References

1. Hayes SC, Luoma JB, Bond FW, Masuda A, Lillis J. Acceptance and commitment therapy: model, processes and outcomes. Behav Res Ther. Jan 2006;44(1):1-25. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.06.006