In ACT, what is the aim of cognitive defusion?

• A. To observe thoughts without being entangled in them
• B. To replace thoughts with new content
• C. To suppress emotions entirely
• D. To deny the existence of thoughts

Answer: (A)

In ACT, cognitive defusion aims to change how we relate to thoughts by creating distance so we can observe them without getting pulled into their content or treated as facts. This helps you notice a thought and still act according to your values, rather than being controlled by it. Techniques like labeling thoughts as just thoughts, or imagining thoughts as leaves floating down a stream, illustrate this idea of separation. Replacing thoughts with new content would be altering the thought itself rather than your relation to it, which is more aligned with cognitive restructuring than defusion. Suppressing emotions is a form of avoidance, not acceptance, and denying the existence of thoughts runs contrary to ACT’s stance of noticing experiences without judgment.