Defusion

Metaphors

There are a huge number of metaphors for acceptance, and the ones in this box are a mere sprinkling. Passengers on the Bus (Hayes et al., 1999) and Demons on the Boat (Harris, 2007) are very versatile in that they encapsulate the entire hexaflex in one metaphor, and can therefore be used to accentuate any process in any session. Both metaphors are essentially the same. I changed Passengers on the Bus to Demons on the Boat for three reasons: (1) demons and boats have a much richer cultural heritage than passengers and buses; (2) just about every single book on ACT has Passengers on the Bus as a key metaphor and I felt like a change; and (3) that’s just the kind of guy I am. Harris, Russ. ACT Made Simple (The New Harbinger Made Simple Series) . New Harbinger Publications. Kindle Edition. See there for a full description.

• See Demons on the Boat. Ch 9 in Harris, Russ. The Happiness Trap (p. 76). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.
• Another way to defuse language is to objectify it, allowing thoughts to become things or people. Physical metaphors can be used to accomplish this objectification to great effect, since we naturally see external objects and other people as separate from ourselves. The Passengers on the Bus exercise is a core ACT intervention aimed at deliteralizing provocative psychological content through objectification. It contains within it the entire psychological flexibility model. Hayes, Steven C.; Strosahl, Kirk D.; Wilson, Kelly G.. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Second Edition (p. 250). Guilford Publications. Kindle Edition.

Research

The handout for the cognitive defusion group was titled ‘Seeing your thoughts differently’. The rationale section explained that thoughts can sometimes sabotage intentions and that in situations like these it can be helpful to think of oneself as different from one’s thoughts. The strategy section went on to describe the mindbus metaphor (i.e., viewing oneself as the driver of a bus and one’s thoughts as passengers, see Hayes & Smith, 2005; Hayes et al., 1999) and gave three examples of strategies the participant could use in response to difficult ‘passengers’ (i.e., difficult thoughts; describing them, letting them know who is in charge, making them talk with a different accent, or sing what they are saying; see Hayes & Smith, 2005; Hayes et al., 1999).

In the practice exercise section, participants were asked to select one of the three strategies and spend 5 min imagining themselves using it, either in response to recent difficult chocolate-related thoughts or in response to the types of difficult chocolate-related thoughts they might experience over the next 5 days. The instructions section asked participants to carry the bag of chocolates with them at all times over the next 5 days, to try to resist eating any kind of chocolate, and to use the strategy outlined in the handout whenever they were tempted to eat chocolate. In order to try to limit social desirability bias, the instructions also noted that resisting chocolate is difficult so the participant may find that they cannot always manage this. In which case, they should simply make a note of what they have eaten in their diary.

Jenkins KT, Tapper K. Resisting chocolate temptation using a brief mindfulness strategy. Br J Health Psychol. 2014 Sep;19(3):509-22. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12050. Epub 2013 May 17. PMID: 23678870.

Torah Sources

• See Rav Shlomo Wolbe, e.g. ואם בכל-זאת היצר מציק, לא יתעצבן על היצר… על היצר לא צריך לשים לב כל כך. חזקה על כל בן-תורה שהוא מתנגד לו עד מאה ועשרים כמה שיוכל, יותר – אין לשים לב אליו.