The ACT for OCD Toolbox: A Guide for Therapists

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Last Updated Nov 2, 2022|

Committed Action Metaphors: The Passengers on the Bus

By Kate Morrison, Ph.D.

This presentation is an excerpt from the online course “The ACT for OCD Toolbox: A Guide for Therapists“.

Highlights

  • The “passengers on the bus” metaphor is a common metaphor within ACT.
  • It brings together all of the ACT processes with a focus on taking action.

 

Transcript

The “passengers on the bus” metaphor is a common metaphor within ACT and it is one that I return to again and again as it is extremely effective for most of my clients.

One of the things I love about this example and this metaphor is that it brings together all of the ACT processes with a focus on taking action. So it’s a wonderful practice or example to use during the committed action stage because you’ve already covered a lot of other concepts, if not, all of them, and this is a spot where they can all come together. When I’m doing more brief therapy with people, this is actually one that I will use to just introduce all of the concepts or most of the concepts if you can.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

I’m going to say this to you as if you’re my client and you can walk through this with me. I want you to imagine that you are driving a bus and so imagine yourself being the bus driver. Let’s say it’s public transportation. And you know how public transportation buses work. You’re on a certain route. You stop when you’re supposed to stop. You open the door, let on who wants on, let out whoever needs out and then you move on to your next stop.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

And often, at the front of the bus, there’s a screen that describes the destination that you’re heading to or the route that you’re on, so people know if they get on that bus they know where they’re heading. You don’t really get to choose a lot of where the bus goes. Because it’s on a route. You get to decide when to start and stop and to turn and you could go off that route if you decided to but that’s the specific one that you’re headed toward.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

There’s a special thing that I’m going to add to your bus that you may not see in other buses. On this bus, you get to have this very special bulletproof barrier or glass that is surrounding you as the driver. So no matter what happens on this bus, you are protected. Got it? Okay. So now, what I want us to do is imagine that as you’re driving this bus, you start to get passengers that are hopping on. And what we’re going to imagine is you are going to place thoughts and emotions and sensations that you experience internally. We’re going to imagine them as passengers that are hopping onto this bus.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

This might be your passenger that says, “Uh-oh, you left the stove on. It is going to burn the house down.” Picture what that passenger would look like and notice what they’re doing on the bus. They might be rowdy. They might just sit quietly behind you but whisper every now and then like, “Are you sure you turned it off?” Just notice what type of passenger they are.

Let’s see if we have some other passengers on there that says, “You’re fine. I’m pretty sure you turned it off. Yeah, I’m confident that you did. I think it’s going to be okay.” And notice what that passenger is like. They might be a little more optimistic looking.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

And notice that those passengers start to interact with each other. Yeah, you might notice that one is like, “Ahh, I don’t know. I am not sure if I turned that stove off.” And then your more optimistic passenger might be like, “Yeah, it’s probably fine. You know what, every time you checked before, it’s totally fine.”

And then the other one goes, “Ah, there was that one time. Remember a couple of years ago, there was a time I went back and checked, and it was still going a little bit, or it wasn’t quite all the way. I better just go back and check.”

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

You can have lots of other passengers on this bus but for now we’re going to just focus on these two. Now remember, you are the one that’s driving the bus. You have this awesome barrier around you. And what you get to decide is where your bus is going. So I want you to think of this as like this is the bus of your life. You get to make decisions on where you head, and you are going to get lots of suggestions from your passengers about where to go regardless of the path that you have set. They’re going to give you suggestions.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

Let’s identify what is at the top here. What is your top priority of where you’re heading? What is scrolling across the front of your bus to guide you on where you need to go? This might be something like making it to work on time, being able to go do things with your friends.

Let’s say making it to work on time. So your goal is to make it to work on time because you care about being reliable. I would actually say let’s put being reliable up on the front of the bus. You can imagine that scrolling across there. This is the being reliable bus. That’s where we’re going.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

Now, as you’re on your way to being reliable, you’re heading to work. You open up the door and the one that’s just not quite sure about the stove hops on. What do you want to do with this passenger when it gets on? You might want to say, “No, no. I’m going to work. I’m trying to be reliable. Get off.” And if you do that, notice if the passenger responds how you want them to.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

Notice you’re starting to get into that fight with them, how that plays out. Do they listen and get off the bus? Yeah, most likely not. They probably just get bigger and scarier, and they’ve changed their whisper now to a yell. They might start threatening you saying, “Really? You think it’s more important to be reliable and go to work than it is to make sure that your house doesn’t burn down? Really.” They’re getting a little more sassy and mean.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

Let’s say you listen to them, and you say, “All right. You know what, fine. I had this plan. We’re going to go on this reliable path but now we’re going to just go down this path of going to make sure that the lock is okay. I don’t need to be reliable today.” What does that passenger do? It might sit back in its chair and say, “Ah, that feels great. Thank you. Thank you for listening to me. You knew I was right.”

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

Do you have any other passengers that show up when you decide to not go to work and be there on time? Yeah, yeah, there are some other passengers that are like, “What are you doing? Last time this happened, they said that I only get like one or two more times and then I am going to get fired. You’ve got to turn around. You’ve got to go back to work.” So now, they’re upset, and they are getting louder.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

And now, you’re stuck because you have multiple passengers on your bus that do not want you to do the same thing. Then you turn and do what they say. You’re like, “All right. Yeah, you’re right. I’m supposed to be there on time. I’ve got to do this. Sorry other passenger. I have got to go to work.” So you turn the bus back and you head back down reliability path. Oh man, the other one does not like it at this point. It says, “You are choosing work over the safety of your home. What kind of person are you? They will understand at work.”

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

You can see the tension here. There’s no way to win. One of them or all of them are going to be upset at some point. So if we’re basing your decision off of whether your passengers are happy, you are going to be zigzagging all over the place. Somebody is always going to be unhappy. Remember that your options here that you get to drive the bus. You are the one in charge, not the passengers.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

The passengers can scream. They can yell. They can do whatever they want. They might get on the bus when they want and get off of the bus when they want. That is totally up to them. But what is in your control is that you are getting to drive that bus where you want it to go. And remember there is that super awesome protective layer around you because as much as those passengers scream and fight and threat, they can’t actually do anything to you. They can sound scary, but they can’t actually be scary.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

So your choice here is that you get to take that step and you can practice openness and you can hear the passengers. You don’t have to ignore them. You can hear them. And if you want to take their suggestions, then you can but that’s totally up to you because you are the one that gets to push on the gas and on the brake and you have control of the steering wheel and you get to decide. And each time you make a decision, that’s taking you either closer or further from that reliability path. And if you get off the reliability path, you can always get back on it.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

This is a wonderful exercise for you to use in these moments when you have a decision to make. Just pause and picture yourself on a bus and say, “Who’s my passenger right now? What are they telling me to do? What do I want to do?” It can be that fast.

References

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change. Guilford Press.

Twohig, M. P. (2004). ACT for OCD: Abbreviated treatment manual [Unpublished treatment manual]. University of Nevada.

The key points here are that the “passengers on the bus” metaphor is a common metaphor within ACT.

It brings together all of the ACT processes with a focus on taking action.

More The ACT for OCD Toolbox: A Guide for Therapists