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. The techniques are deliberately odd: add the prefix 'I'm having the thought that…', sing the thought, say it in a cartoon voice, or repeat it until it is only sound. 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 junior lawyer in Izmir hears the same sentence before every client call: 'they will realise you don't know enough'. She writes it down as 'I'm having the thought that they will realise I don't know enough' and reads it aloud twice before dialling. The sentence still arrives during the call. She notices it, keeps going, and asks the client the question she had been avoiding.
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.