An Overview of the Yearning for Coherence in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Information Guidance Sheets (part 2 of 7) - Defusion

In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), the six core yearnings represent fundamental human desires that drive and guide behavior. These yearnings correspond to the six processes and the six points of the Hexagon Model of psychological flexibility.

These interrelated processes foster psychological flexibility, which is the ability to fully engage with the present moment and adapt behavior in ways that serve valued ends.

One of these core yearnings is the fundamental human desire for coherence.

Coherence is the need for everything to make sense, for a sense of order and correctness in our understanding of the world.

Our minds strive to fulfill this yearning by seeking patterns and imposing structure on our experiences. This desire for coherence extends to our understanding of the world, ourselves, and our experiences. We rely on the constancy of natural laws—like gravity—and daily routines, trusting that the world will remain stable when we blink or awaken.

To impose coherence, we employ various frameworks—religious beliefs, moral codes, and ethical guidelines—that help us interpret and organize our experiences. However, this quest for coherence can narrow our experience of the world, causing us to live more inside our heads and view life as a problem to be solved. When this coherence is disrupted by trauma or rigid adherence to rules ("My way is the only right way!"), we experience distress.

Achieving coherence involves identifying our thoughts and emotions and consciously choosing how to respond based on our values. This alignment makes our actions more intentional and value-driven. This awareness allows us to understand and confront even the most challenging thoughts that can significantly impact outcomes.

Cognitive Defusion:

Concept: Cognitive defusion (also referred to as cognitive diffusion) involves learning to perceive thoughts, images, and memories as mere products of the mind rather than as threatening events or facts.

Clinical Application:

The clinician works to undermine Cognitive Fusion by:

1. Identifying Barriers to Willingness¹: Identify the client’s emotional, cognitive, behavioral, or physical barriers that hinder willingness.

2. Addressing Attachment to Literal Meanings: Suggest that attachment to the literal meanings of these experiences makes sustaining willingness difficult.

3. Contrasting the Mind vs. Experience: Contrast what the client’s "mind" says will work versus what the client’s actual experience shows is working.

4. Utilizing Language and Metaphors: Employ language tools (e.g., "get off our buts," "both/and"), metaphors (e.g., the clipboard exercise, thoughts as hands, passengers on the bus), and experiential exercises (e.g., tin can monster) to create a separation between the client and their conceptualized experience.

5. Revealing the Flow of Private Experience: Use various interventions to reveal the flow of private experiences and demonstrate that these experiences are not “toxic” or something that needs to be believed.

6. Promoting Willingness to Experience: Encourage the client to experiment with "having" these experiences, using willingness as a stance.

7. Exposing the Hidden Properties of Language: Use exercises, metaphors, and behavioral tasks to reveal the hidden properties of language (e.g., "milk, milk, milk," "what are the numbers?").

8. Clarifying the Client’s Story: Help the client clarify their "story" and make contact with the arbitrary nature of causal relationships within it.

9. Exploring the Evaluative and Reason-Giving Properties: Assist the client in recognizing the evaluative and reason-giving properties of their story (e.g., "no thing matters," "good cup/bad cup") and how this is often an unwinnable game.

10. Developing the Skill to Detect Cognitive Fusion: Detect "mindiness" (fusion) during the session and teach the client to recognize it as well. Use techniques like repeating a word until it loses its meaning, observing thoughts without taking action, or using metaphors to help clients detach from unhelpful thoughts and reduce their impact.

The following is a “cheat sheet” which looks at several key components and processes in ACT that supports the yearning for coherence.

There is a downloadable PDF version of this at the end after the section on clinical application for your reference.