Have you ever bought into an unhelpful narrative in your mind?

Have you ever had an unhelpful narrative in your mind, and have “bought into”, “hooked into”, or fused with that story like being fully immersed into a drama show or book?

This is normal of course, but if the narrative is unhelpful and the fusion is intense and prolonged, then we will have a mood problem. 

In counseling, we are curious to understand the narrative, where it came from, and the intensity of the fusion with that story. 

If it’s more of a story problem, and not so much about fusion, then we try to reframe, challenge, and change that story. This is more in line with a CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) strategy. 

If it’s more of a fusion problem, then we may prefer to work on defusion, unhooking, or detachment of that story.  This is more of an ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) strategy. 

Often it’s both, so we need to work on both, but probably defusion first perhaps before the story can effectively be changed or reframed.