When I get fused with my thoughts, I see the world through my thoughts, as though they are (the only)reality. My thinking becomes rigid and inflexible. For example, if I have the thought that the world is a terrible place, and I am fused with that thought, this thought becomes my reality. I am not open to another perspective, and I look for evidence to support my thought. I am biased in the kind of information I am willing to entertain or accept. For example, I may key in on events in the news that supports my thought that the world is a terrible place. This is called a confirmatory bias. On the other hand, I dismiss, overlook, or minimize information that does not support my thought, like random acts of kindness. This is called an overlooking bias. We can generally see this in others, and yet we tend not to see this in ourselves. This inflexibility and rigidity can be psychologically unhealthy, constrict our world, and interfere with our relationships.
Tag Archives: ACT
Nature of thoughts
I would like to begin my blog with an introduction to the nature of thoughts. When you think about it, thoughts are a mental collection of words, which are formed by letters which represent certain sounds. So, we might say that words are a collection of sounds to which someone assigned a meaning. The words themselves are not the the thing, the meaning, assigned to the words. Language is a wonderful and useful tool that we use for communication, and yet it can work against us as well. We are so steeped in language and the meanings that we ascribe to words, or the collection of sounds represented by that group of letters, that we tend to see the words as one and the same as the meaning we have assigned to them.
So, why is this important? I invite your comments and will address this question in my next blog.
Hello World
I am a clinical psychologist who practices Acceptance and Committment therapy (ACT for short). I see clients from age 5 and up and specialize in helping people with depression and anxiety. ACT therapy is about learning to accept things that are beyond our control, learning pschological skills for dealing more effectively with our thoughts and feelings, and committing to living a meaningful life in the direction of our values.
I also provide assessment for IQ, learning disorders, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and personality.
ACT On Life 