Understanding Cognitive Fusion

The concept of "literalization": when the map gets confused with the territory

Cognitive fusion is one of the central concepts in this therapeutic model and describes the process by which we humans become "stuck" or attached to our thoughts, such that we lose the ability to distinguish them from objective reality.

When we are fused, we do not see the thought as a subjective and transitory mental event (a few words that cross our mind), but rather we look at the world through that thought.

It is as if we were wearing glasses with red-colored lenses; before long, we stop noticing the glasses and simply assume that the world is red.

In the fusion, the verbal symbol (the word) and the referenced object collapse into a single psychological experience. This phenomenon is called "literalization."

Words acquire the psychological properties of the actual events they describe.

If a person reads the word "lemon," his or her salivary glands are likely to become subtly activated, even though there is no citrus present.

Similarly, if the mind says "danger" or "failure," the body reacts with stress chemistry as if the threat is imminent and physical.

The fusion leads us to treat thoughts as if they were commands we must obey ("I have to get out of here"), unbreakable rules we must follow ("I can't make mistakes") or fait accompli we cannot change ("My life is a mess").

In this state, flexibility disappears because we are reacting to the words in our head rather than the contingencies of our actual environment.

The impact of blindly believing internal narratives

The meltdown is especially damaging when it occurs with self-concept and predictions about the future.

Our mind is a story-generating machine for making sense of experience, and we often end up believing those stories at face value.

For example, imagine someone who has merged with the narrative "I am socially awkward."

If this person walks into a room full of people, he will not see opportunities for interaction; he will see a confirmation of his story.

He will interpret a brief silence as proof of his clumsiness, or a neutral stare as a negative judgment. This blind belief acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

By firmly believing "I am not capable of learning this," the person stops trying or does so with such anxiety that his performance decreases, thus confirming the initial premise.

Cognitive fusion reduces our world to the dimensions of our fears and judgments.

It prevents us from contacting the direct reality of the present moment because we are too busy interacting with our mental virtual reality.

The problem is not having negative thoughts (the mind will always produce them), but the act of buying into them as absolute truths that dictate what is possible and what is not in our lives.

Summary

Cognitive fusion describes the process by which we become "stuck" to our thoughts, losing the ability to distinguish them from objective reality and perceiving the world through that narrative.

In this state of "literalization," words take on the psychological properties of what they represent; if the mind says "danger," the body reacts chemically as if the threat were physical and real.

This causes us to treat thoughts as absolute commands or fait accompli, generating a rigidity that prevents us from contacting the present moment and turns our beliefs into self-fulfilling prophecies.