“I always choke under pressure.”
If you have ever had a thought like this during competition, you know what happens next. The thought does not stay as words in your head. It becomes a fact. It becomes a prediction. It becomes a command. You stop seeing it as something your mind produced and start experiencing it as the truth about who you are and what is about to happen.
In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), this process has a name: cognitive fusion. It is the state where you and your thoughts become fused — where you cannot see any distance between yourself and the content of your thinking.
Cognitive defusion is the skill of stepping back from that fusion. Not changing the thought. Not arguing with it. Not replacing it. Simply seeing it for what it is: a thought.
What Cognitive Defusion Is (and Is Not)
Cognitive defusion is not positive thinking. It does not ask you to replace “I always choke under pressure” with “I am a great performer.” That kind of thought replacement can work temporarily, but it often fails precisely when you need it most — in genuinely high-pressure moments when your mind has strong evidence for the negative thought and weak evidence for the positive one.
Cognitive defusion is not positive thinking.
Cognitive defusion is not thought suppression. It does not ask you to stop thinking the thought or push it away. Research consistently shows that thought suppression tends to increase the frequency and intensity of the suppressed thought — the well-documented “white bear” effect.
Cognitive defusion is a shift in perspective. The thought stays. Your relationship to it changes.
When you are fused with a thought, the thought drives your behaviour. “I always choke under pressure” leads to away moves — playing conservatively, avoiding the decisive moment, withdrawing effort before the moment arrives so you have an excuse if it goes wrong.
When you are defused from a thought, you can see the thought as a thought — a string of words your mind produced — and still choose your behaviour based on your values. “I always choke under pressure” is still present, but it no longer has the authority to dictate what you do next.
How Cognitive Defusion Works in the ACT Framework
ACT identifies cognitive fusion as one of the key processes that undermines psychological flexibility (Hayes et al., 2006). When athletes become fused with their thoughts — treating mental content as literal truth rather than as one possible perspective — their behavioural repertoire narrows. They respond rigidly to internal experiences rather than flexibly to the demands of the situation.
ACT identifies cognitive fusion as one of the key processes that undermines psychological flexibility (Hayes et al., 2006).
Cognitive defusion techniques work by introducing a small gap between the thinker and the thought. That gap does not need to be large. Even a momentary recognition that “this is a thought, not a fact” can be enough to restore the capacity for choice.
The key insight is that defusion does not change whether the thought is true or false. It changes whether the thought controls your behaviour. An athlete can notice the thought “I am going to miss this shot” and still step up with full commitment. The thought is present. The action is chosen independently of the thought.
The Core Technique: “I Notice I Am Having the Thought That…”
The most straightforward cognitive defusion technique is a simple verbal formula. When you catch yourself fused with a thought, you add a prefix:
Instead of: “I cannot make this shot.”
Try: “I notice I am having the thought that I cannot make this shot.”
Read those two sentences again. The content is identical. But the experience of each is different.
The first sentence is a statement of fact. It positions you inside the thought, looking out at the world through its lens. If you believe it, your behaviour follows — hesitation, doubt, tentative execution.
The second sentence is an observation. It positions you as the observer of the thought, looking at it from a slight distance. The thought is still there. You have not argued with it or replaced it. But you have created enough space to choose what to do next based on something other than the thought’s content.
Here are more examples from sport contexts:
- “I am too tired to keep going” becomes “I notice I am having the thought that I am too tired to keep going.”
- “Everyone is watching me” becomes “I notice I am having the thought that everyone is watching me.”
- “I have already lost this” becomes “I notice I am having the thought that I have already lost this.”
- “My opponent is too good” becomes “I notice I am having the thought that my opponent is too good.”
Try This: Defusion in Your Next Training Session
You do not need to wait for competition to practise this skill. Use your next training session.
Step 1: At some point during training — when you are fatigued, frustrated, bored, or doubting yourself — notice the thought that shows up. Do not go looking for it. Just wait for it to arrive. It will.
Step 2: Silently add the prefix: “I notice I am having the thought that…”
Step 3: Notice what happens. Most athletes report a brief sense of spaciousness — a moment where the thought loosens its grip just enough to allow a choice.
Step 4: Make your choice. The thought is still there. What do you want to do next? Choose a toward move — an action aligned with the kind of athlete you want to be today.
This is a skill, not a trick. The first time you try it, the effect may be subtle. With repetition, the capacity to defuse from unhelpful thoughts becomes faster and more automatic. The thoughts do not stop. You simply stop letting them drive.
This Is One Technique
Cognitive defusion is one of six core ACT processes taught in the Mental Fitness pillar. The full course covers present moment awareness, emotional acceptance, values clarification, self-as-context, and committed action across 30 structured microlessons.
Explore courses at rawedge.au/courses
References
- Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J. B., Bond, F. W., Masuda, A., & Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(1), 1-25. Full reference at rawedge.au/research
Aaron Williams is an AHPRA-registered psychologist (PSY0002297677) and the founder of RAW Edge Performance. He works with athletes and performers across sport, performing arts, and high-performance environments.