Kweku’s Korner
By Dr. Kweku Akyirefi Amoasi
Kweku Akyirefi Amoasi, formerly known as Ramel Smith
When we began to discuss Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) last week, we discussed the six stages. The first step we discussed was Acceptance. The second step is framed as Cognitive Diffusion. A link from Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) will detail the key aspects such as observing thoughts; disidentification; noticing the language; distancing; and semantic satiation.
As humans we can break it down to describe these terms, such as observing thoughts. As we have begun to accept the reality of pain and frustration, we then amplify it with cognitive diffusion, and it starts with being more observant. When we are intentional of our thoughts, we begin to attack the problem at the start. Like cognitive behavior therapy, we focus on these thoughts. In the bible, there is a scripture that reads “to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.” In this situation, with ACT, we want to observe the thought and recognize a thought is a thought and every thought is not a fact that should be accepted without personal and internal debate. However, before we can capture it we must recognize it. The next phase of disidentification is where we capture the thought and through careful analysis we decide if it should be ignored, discarded, or recognized and accepted. In this part we start to recognize if we remove some thoughts that do not deserve our attention and time, we can create less anxiety and stress. It is easier to ignore thoughts we can see as foolish and untrue. The question is “how do I recognize the bad language?” The next phase of “noticing the language,” is where we start to identify words in our vocabulary that gives us a clue to an erroneous thought. For example, if you hear your self-speaking extremely absolute terms like NEVER, ALWAYS, EVERYTIME, before your sentence that is the first red flag. Then the second hint is if you vocalize mental thoughts that begin to put yourself down. I call this a tongue lashing. If I would not hit myself physically, then why would I hit myself verbally? Some things are true, but here is where we capture and reframe. Instead of saying “Things never work out for me because I am so stupid.” I will capture and reframe by saying, “This situation continues to happen more frequently than I like because I am not utilizing all my resources that are available to me.” Any internal voice that is not friendly and supportive, I reject.
When we teach anger management, we tell individuals to 1) count to 10 before you speak; 2) take five steps back; 3) breathe in and out; or 4) sing a song that makes you happy. Why? We are trying to create space, and this is the next phase of distancing. When those negative thoughts come, we don’t immediately accept, we take a pause, re-listen and the distance should help reason more rationally versus the visceral response to automatically accept what we internally hear. Just live we cannot believe everything we read; we must question the thoughts that appear in our very own mind. That small distance allows us to decipher between thought and truth. When we recognize it is a dysfunctional thought, we enter into the last phase of semantic satiation, where we repeatedly say the thought that is the untruth, the more we say it, the more we create a rewiring of the neuronal connections that creates a plasticity of the brain and allows us to see this for the false fact that it is. Here by repeating, we reduce the bully into a harmless thought that we can defeat more easily. Again, easier said than done, but the more we do it the easier it becomes. And, with the help of a trained clinician, you do not have to go through this process alone. Remember this is the 2nd of 6 steps, we have more to go to get us to our final goal. This is not a quick process, but when used with regularity and fidelity, it has empirical evidence to prove its efficacy. One day at a time!