Cognitive fusion: what it is, how it affects us, and disorders that cause it

People who experience cognitive fusion do not differentiate their cognitions from reality, that is, they believe that their thoughts are reality.

Thus, these cognitions create great discomfort in those who experience them in their own skin, since it is believed that all thoughts that arise, that cannot be controlled, refer to present events or that will be fulfilled in the future hopelessly.

This confusion between reality and thought can appear in subjects with mental disorders, as occurs with patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In this article we will see what cognitive fusion consists of, what types are there, what subjects can it affect, how to detect it, and how to mitigate or treat it.

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What is cognitive fusion?

Cognitive fusion is defined as the non-distinction between reality and thought; where it occurs, the subject believes that thinking something means that such a thought actually happens or happens. In this way, the individual stops evaluating other variables that can influence behavior and only takes into account the thought, this is the only absolute truth for him.

So in cognitive fusion the person only values ​​a single possible truth and this is the one linked to the subjective interpretation of reality through their thoughts, beliefs, values… If these thoughts become negative, we will enter a loop in which we will not be aware of reality and our way of acting will only be based on our interpretation, disabling and altering our functioning.

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How does this kind of thinking affect us?

As you can deduce, this type of thinking affects the person in a negative way, since when in us we are acting according to what happens in our mind and not according to what is really real; therefore, the subject can stop doing things or alter his behavior due to factors or beliefs that do not have to happen. So we see how this thought becomes pathological, appearing in mental disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Let's consider an example to better understand the concept: let's imagine the situation in which a subject thinks that he is useless and does everything wrong. If cognitive fusion were to occur, the belief of this thought would be such that it would really define itself and believe that the The reality is that it is worth nothing without taking other variables into account and despite having evidence that contradicts that idea.

We therefore observe the dysfunctionality of this cognition that limits us, creates discomfort and prevents us from doing things or achieving goals that we could achieve in other circumstances.

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Types of cognitive fusion

The author was Adrian Wells, known for proposing the metacognitive model that takes into account the cognitions of people about their cognitive processes such as thought, who proposed different types of fusion cognitive. Wells extends the proposals made by the psychologist Stanley Rachman and recognizes the existence of three fusions of thoughts.

1. Thought-action fusion

The first type would be the thought-action fusion; this posits the belief that having certain thoughts inevitably leads to the commission of action. Put more bluntly, “if I think I am going to do something, it will happen”. For example, there are mothers who have thoughts of harming their children, and interpret such thoughts as a reality that will happen, as if it were a premonitory thought.

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2. Thought-event fusion

Another type is thought-event fusion. In this case, it appears the belief that having a thought will cause an event to happen or that the event is currently taking place or has already occurred. An example of this kind of cognitive fusion would be to believe that the fact that we think we have cancer means that we really have it.

3. object fusion

Finally, the fusion of the object generates in the individual who suffers it the belief that thoughts, feelings, memories, or properties can be transmitted through objects. In this way, we believe that by touching an object that has something bad in it (for example, that it is contaminated) we will acquire this property, we will become contaminated.

How to detect cognitive fusion?

In order to decrease cognitive fusion, it will be necessary to first detect it and be aware of it. For this purpose we can assess different factors that will help us identify it.

These psychological areas that we must analyze are the following: identify the rules that govern our behavior (implicit rules behind how we act, what we believe or feel); and the reasoning that leads us to act or think in such a way (on many occasions this will appear as a justification for our behavior or what judgments we have and how these affect our life).

Other areas that we can take into account are: how we perceive or how our past affects us, if we have remained anchored in this time and how this fact repercussions, or if we live constantly thinking about the future (it is typical for subjects with cognitive fusion to always live pending or worried about what may pass).

Finally, this cognitive affectation also influences the construction of the "I". It is normal to have thoughts about how we are, but we must pay attention to whether we establish these self-beliefs as something rigid or as the only truth.

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In which disorders do we observe cognitive fusion?

This dysfunction in thought occurs in different disorders, it may be that subjects with different diagnoses present both cognitive fusion.

A) Yes, has been observed in personality disorders (TP), pathologies that affect the personality of the individual, who shows stable and unhealthy thinking and behavior, not very functional.

In individuals with this pathology, it has been seen a direct relationship between the severity of their symptoms and the presence of cognitive fusion. Thus, we observe that subjects with a more severe PD are the ones who are more likely to reveal thought fusion.

Another mental disorder where this type of thinking is also present is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). These patients show obsessions (which are ideas, thoughts, that occur repeatedly and are maintained in the affected person's mind) and compulsions (which are behaviors or mental rituals that the subject performs with the intention of reducing the anxiety and discomfort generated by thoughts obsessive).

In patients with OCD it happens that they believe that the obsessive thoughts they have are real, that they are linked to reality. Thus enter a pathological loop where obsessions, when interpreted as real events, generate in them a discomfort that they try to reduce by performing compulsive acts that only solve the problem. problem for a short period of time, in the short term, but then they perpetuate it, causing anxiety and therefore patient discomfort increase.

Treatment

Given the affectation and discomfort that this thought entails, we will try to reduce it, and the way to do it would be to do the opposite process, which is known as cognitive defusion. Is helps the person recognize and distinguish between thoughts, feelings, and memories.

This process is neither easy nor fast, the individual must work and practice the different techniques to finally achieve their goal. Thus, different strategies have been used to achieve the defusion of thought.

1. Make the thought explicit

If we make the negative thought explicit (formulate it as a statement), that it will help us to be more aware of it and to perceive it for what it is, just a thought. In this way we will try to make the subject differentiate thought from reality.

For example, if we reframe the situation where the mother has thoughts of harming her son, she should express the thought as "I am not a bad mother, I do not have to hurt my son". We see how we contradict the idea of ​​believing to be a bad mother and raise the possibility of not performing such behavior, this belief is not reality and is avoidable.

2. exposure to thought

Exposure is one of the most widely used techniques to combat and treat intrusive or negative thoughts. Is consists in not trying to eliminate such a thought and letting it arise to verify that such a thought is not fulfilled; It will serve the subject to realize that thought is not reality and that thinking something does not mean that it happens. Facing the thought will be the only way to verify that it is not real and it is illogical to conceive it as true.

3. down arrow technique

This is a strategy used to learn about and thus be able to deal with the dysfunctional beliefs behind negative thoughts. In this way we can start by asking ourselves more superficial questions to finally uncover and be able to work on the cause, the belief, that generates these negative thoughts.

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4. Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a technique that aims to pay attention to the present experience and accept it. In this way, we focus on our thoughts without trying to control or modify them, we will simply let them pass. Thus, we will make the subject more aware of what he thinks and classify it as such, as internal cognitive processes produced by him that may have no relation to reality.