Defusion and Trauma: Exercises and Metaphors
Booz Allen
Department of Veterans Affairs
Yale University
University of Nevada, Reno
Key Points
- Experiential exercises can show how language can bring up the qualities of the things the words refer to.
- We can’t permanently disrupt the ability to use language, but exercises can help clients not to take thoughts as literal truths.
- This applies to mundane thoughts and to cognitive content related to traum
Materials Downloads
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Transcript
As I mentioned before, because of the human capability to use symbolic language, simply bringing up a word can also immediately bring up what we call the stimulus characteristics of the object that’s being referenced. And this can be both good and bad, or more accurately, it can be functional and dysfunctional.
Batten, S. V. (2011). Essentials of acceptance and commitment therapy. SAGE Publications Ltd.,Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. Guilford Press.
So, let’s give a few examples. First of all, imagine that you have a lemon in front of you. And imagine that you actually are holding the lemon. And you can picture just exactly the color of yellow of that lemon, and maybe it has a couple of little spots on it, and you can feel the sensation of that lemon peel, the little sort of holes and ridges in it.
Batten, S. V. (2011). Essentials of acceptance and commitment therapy. SAGE Publications Ltd.,Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. Guilford Press.