Concept
Defusion
Defusion is the acceptance and commitment therapy skill Harris teaches for the inner critic: noticing a thought as a thought, a string of words the mind produced, rather than as a fact to obey or argue with.
The two instincts with a harsh thought are to argue and to obey, and both keep it in charge: arguing holds it at the centre of attention, obeying lets it drive. Defusion is a third move: stepping back far enough to see the thought as an event in the mind rather than a description of the world. Techniques are deliberately odd, say it with the prefix, sing it, say it in a cartoon voice, repeat it until it is sound, because the point is to change your relationship to the thought, not its content. A thought being present and a thought being in charge are different things, and the mind will produce 'you're not good enough' at the door of every important room for the rest of your life; the skill is to walk in with it saying so. What replaces the critic as a guide is not a nicer thought but a value: what you want to stand for in the room, which does not depend on the outcome.
A real-life example
A data analyst's critic says before every meeting 'they'll think you're slow'. She reads it aloud in the kitchen with the prefix until it sounds like a weather report, then asks her question in the meeting with the thought present for the whole hour and in charge of none of it.
How to use it
- 1Prefix the thought: 'I'm having the thought that…'. Look at it, not from it.
- 2Do not argue and do not obey; both are hooks.
- 3Ask what someone who valued what you value would do next, and do that with the thought present.