Josh Hillebrand LCSW

Tag: acceptance-and-commitment-therapy

  • Cognitive Defusion

    Cognitive Defusion

    Let’s say you’re stuck on a difficult thought like “I’m a terrible person,” “Nobody likes me,” or “I’m going to sound like an idiot during my presentation tomorrow.” Traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) might have you look at the evidence for and against these thoughts, and then identify a more adaptive thought. This can be a helpful approach for some people. But, if that doesn’t work for you, try out one of my favorite concepts and skills from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): cognitive defusion.

    Cognitive defusion says we don’t need to spend time challenging thoughts. After all, sometimes this can just get us caught up in a back-and-forth with our own mind and result in more and more spiraling and rumination. The idea behind cognitive defusion is that we can use mindfulness to remind ourselves that our thoughts are basically just strings of words in our heads. Further, the skill can help us take a step back from the thoughts, noticing them with curiosity, and this can give us the space we need from these troublesome words. Once we have that space, we can choose something more productive to do with our time, which might look like enjoying another episode of The Pitt or Alien: Earth.

    A man is sitting crosslegged and is meditating.

    Here are some ways to practice cognitive defusion (some of these are more on the silly side but can be effective but use your own intuition for which ones to try out):

    • Repeat the thought out loud as fast as you possibly can for 60 seconds
    • Say the thought as slowly as possible (pretend to be the sloth character from Zootopia)
    • Sing the thought to the tune of your favorite song or the Happy Birthday song
    • If the thought is “I’m a bad person,” try saying “I’m having the thought that I’m a bad person” and notice if that shifts anything for you. Next, try saying “I’m noticing that I’m having the thought that I’m a bad person” and see if that shifts anything further. You could also try writing the thought out and follow the same pattern.

    Remember the goal is not necessarily to banish the thought from your consciousness forever. Rather, it’s to help you take a step back when you’re hooked on a thought so you can have more psychological flexibility in a sticky moment. If you have more of this type of flexibility, you could spend more of your time doing the things you actually care about rather than letting that thought distract you for the rest of the day.

  • The ACE Skill or Dropping Anchor

    The ACE Skill or Dropping Anchor

    One of my favorite skills from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is the ACE skill which is also known as dropping anchor.

    Imagine you’re on a boat that is trying to get into the harbor. And suddenly there is a huge storm that appears out of nowhere. There are huge waves rocking the boat, horizontal rain, high winds. What should the boat do? If it tries to continue moving towards the harbor, it’s likely going to crash against the rocks, capsize, or get swept out to the sea. So, the boat needs to drop its anchor and wait for the storm to pass.

    Same thing for us when we’re hit by an emotional storm. If we’re suddenly overwhelmed by anxiety or rage or guilt or shame, and we try to take action when the emotions are raging, we’re at great risk of making the situation worse. So, these are perfect times for dropping our own anchor to ride out the storm and to get grounded. We can do that with the ACE skill:

    • Acknowledge our thoughts and feelings
      • “I’m noticing there’s a lot of anxiety/anger/guilt/shame/hurt present”
      • “I’m having the thought I want to punch that guy in the face”
      • “I’m having the thought that I’ll never be able to recover from this”
    • Connect with our body
      • Do any type of movement like clenching and unclenching fists, stretching, or yoga poses
      • Notice with curiosity any body sensations and watch them and how they fluctuate and change moment-to-moment
      • Try sitting in a chair and pressing your feet into the ground
    • Engage with the present moment
      • Pay attention to what is actually present for you on a very literal level
      • Look around the room that you’re in and describe objects that you see (shape, color, design)
      • Remind yourself of what time and day it is
      • Ask yourself, what’s going to be helpful for me to focus on and then focus on whatever you identify
    A cairn by water with a cloudy sky.

    Now please note that in the same way that a ship dropping its anchor will not have any affect on the stormy weather, the ACE skill might not get rid of the emotional storm you’re experiencing But that’s not the goal of this skill anyway. It’s to help you stay grounded or anchored until the storm passes, and then you can more effectively respond to the situation later.

    You can practice this skill throughout the day, even for a few seconds, and even if no emotional storm is present. I sometimes practice the ACE skill when brushing my teeth!