By: Camden Baucke MS LLP
You are not your thoughts.
This might sound like a simple sentence, but for many people, separating their sense of self from the content of their thoughts is extremely difficult.
You might think of the famous quote “I think, therefore I am“, but that’s more about your awareness of your existence rather than “I think, therefore I am what I think“.
It’s vital to recognize the distance between what you feel, think, and who you are.
If they’re too closely intertwined, then you might be experiencing cognitive fusion.
This article will help explain what cognitive fusion is, how it can harm your mental health, and what you can start doing about it today.
What is Cognitive Fusion?
Cognitive fusion is a concept from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) — a 3rd wave cognitive behavioral therapy focused on psychological flexibility.
Cognitive refers to a mental action, and fusion means combining two things that were once separate.
Cognitive fusion is when your thoughts become so entangled with your sense of self that your thoughts appear like extensions of your identity, rather than a typical and dynamic human experience.
Thoughts might seem less like passing information, and more like apparent truth.
Cognitive fusion causes thoughts to be something you are, rather than what you have.
When this happens, your thoughts are no longer just sparks passing along your neurons – they become perceived reality.
Unfortunately, cognitive fusion puts your sense of self into the hands of dynamic and context-dependent experiences – meaning that your identity is just a ship on the waves.
Why is Cognitive Fusion Dangerous?
When thoughts become reality, there’s no room to second guess if they’re true or not.
That means the worst stream of consciousness you can experience can somehow be true to life.
In CBT, there are three main perspectives we focus on: (1) Self (2) the world and (3) the future.
These perspectives are fueled by beliefs, which are built by thoughts. If negative thoughts infiltrate your beliefs and your perspectives, then your negative opinions might start to feel like facts – and facts don’t invite debate.
In reality, thoughts are just passing streams of information that pass through several lenses of bias and interpretation.
They are inherently subjective, which means there is some distance between your thoughts and obvious truth.
However, cognitive fusion makes your personal anecdote feel like universal truth.
When your anecdote is negative, then your sense of self can “become” negative.
When you think the world is bad, the world “becomes” bad.
When you think the future is catastrophic, you prepare as if this thought will “come” true.
Asserting your thoughts represent reality is often tied to psychological suffering. Research has found that high levels of cognitive fusion are linked to:
- Depression.
- Anxiety.
- Rigid and inflexible behavior.
- Avoidance of meaningful life experiences.
- Increased self-criticism.
- Decreased self-compassion.
Cognitive fusion imprisons your ability to choose how you respond to thoughts, let alone question their validity.
What Does Cognitive Fusion Look Like?
Cognitive fusion might be more common than you expect.
Obviously, we’re deaf to the thoughts of others unless they communicate them – but we can also feel accustomed to being dominated by our own thoughts on a daily basis.
Here’s some internal dialogue that represents cognitive fusion:
- “I’m not a smart person.”
- “Nobody actually likes me.”
- “I can’t handle stress.”
- “Things will never change for me.”
- “I’m a burden on others.”
Did you notice the common theme?
Each of those statements were expressed as facts, not opinions.
Cognitive fusion is when a passing thought of “you’re not smart enough” becomes representative of a reality where you are “not smart enough“.
All you need to change each sentence is to start with the basic words “I think” – because “I think I can’t handle stress” is different from fully accepting the thought as truth.
If you say “I think I’m a burden on others“, it leads to questions like “what makes you think that?” Then, you might describe the behaviors, not identity, that you believe makes you burdensome. Those behaviors are pulled apart factor by factor, helping you recognize that having needs and asking for help doesn’t make you burdensome – you get to challenge this thought.
Cognitive fusion is when you mistake a debatable byproduct for irrefutable reality that dictates identity and ability.
However, you don’t have to keep giving your thoughts the power to tell you who you are.
How to Start Changing It
The best way to address cognitive fusion is called cognitive defusion.
Cognitive defusion is when you mentally create distance between your thoughts and sense of self.
Defusion doesn’t mean ignoring any negative thought you have or automatically assuming every thought you have is wrong.
It means stepping back to realize that a thought is simply a behavior inside your ears, not a verdict.
There are plenty of ways to address cognitive fusion using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
To start, here are 4 simple tricks to start defusing from your thoughts.
- Name a thought out loud.
- Instead of saying “I’m a failure,” try: “I’m having the thought that I’m a failure.”
- This single shift protects your perspective by acknowledging that a negative thought isn’t truth.
- Give the thought a name.
- Sometimes giving your typical negative thoughts and inner critics nicknames can help defuse them from reality and introduce some humor.
- Instead of saying “I’m stupid“, you can try: “Bozo the clown is back saying I’m dumb again”
- Ask what the thought costs.
- You might consider a thought to be true, but what are the perceived consequences?
- If your negative thoughts represented reality, what would be different?
- What choices would you make? What life would you live? Is that a life you want?
- Curiously explore the thought
- When a difficult thought appears, practice curiousness
- Instead of acting as if it’s true, try asking it some curious questions.
- You can think “That’s interesting — where did that come from? What is it trying to protect me from?“
You Are the Observer, Not the Thought
You get to watch what you think without the risk of becoming what you think.
Some thoughts might feel more normal for you – self-criticism, self-policing, self-contempt, but you can see them as neuronal behaviors.
Thoughts are simply messages passing along neurons inside your brain.
If you can defuse your sense of self from your negative thoughts, you can find more steady ground.
Life is chaotic and often invites us to think an array of negative thoughts – but you can remain yourself and think negative thoughts at the same time.
Observe your thoughts – don’t judge them or jump to solidify them as true.
Reflections 
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