In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), cognitive fusion refers to when we become so stuck in our heads, we become fused with our thoughts. When we’re in a state of cognitive fusion, it can be hard to quiet our minds enough to fall asleep, and so cognitive fusion can contribute to insomnia.
The opposite of cognitive fusion is cognitive defusion . Cognitive defusion allows us to un-fuse ourselves from our thoughts. And then we can let our thoughts go and quiet our minds enough to be able to fall asleep. So if our thoughts are keeping us up at night and giving us insomnia, cognitive defusion is a great way to clear our heads so we can get to sleep.
Cognitive Defusion
Worries are one of the most common types of thoughts that keep us awake at night. If worrying is contributing to your insomnia, you’ll find a number of posts about how to reduce worrying in my Self-Help Course for Anxiety. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them on the YouTube video page.