Cognitive excision is a technique derived from cognitive behavioral therapy that aims to reduce those unwanted thoughts that appear in our minds and that we feel direct our lives, such thoughts can be described as obsessive or ruminant.
The main feature of these thoughts and the difficulty in eliminating them is that they rotate in a dead-end circle. Besides, as they spin, we feed them ourselves. The ingredients they love the most are their worries and fears.
- For these reasons to run away from this kind of thinking is not a solution.
- Just as ignoring them is also not a solution.
- What cognitive excision proposes is to teach us to relate to this kind of intrusive thinking.
- How can it be done?Through certain exercises that help us separate ourselves from them and see them in perspective.
Cognitive defusion tries to prevent us from going to those unwanted thoughts that limit our daily lives. We can’t concentrate, we sleep badly, even though we exercise, do we have a mind full of intrusive thoughts?It is essential that we know how this reality is built. Therefore, before delving into cognitive defusion, we will see how these thoughts are created.
The way we merge with unwanted thoughts lies in the fact that we believe that we are those thoughts, we cannot see them contemplatively (from outside), as taught in the mindfulness technique, so we treat them as something very important. , which requires all our attention, so much so that no activity can prevent us from thinking about it.
It is also common to consider this type of thinking as absolute truths, usually they are not what we like, so indirectly they become a kind of threat, in this way we stick even more to them, using inadequate strategies to get rid of them.
All of this also has an emotional impact. Every thought of this kind that we focus on provokes very strong emotions, is it that we feel an intense fear, that anxiety is at the forefront?It’s natural, because there’s a threat we have to defend ourselves against.
The fact is that this threat is alone in our minds, and we feed it ourselves, merging with thoughts from which we cannot separate ourselves.
To end this unpleasant situation and know how to act if it reproduces, cognitive excision offers some exercises, putting them into practice whenever we need them will help us to separate ourselves from thoughts. so automatically that we will no longer cling to such thoughts.
All cognitive separation exercises have 3 goals. The first is that we are able to identify and strip thought; the second, that we can feel it as much as we can; the third, which we can release, let’s discover some exercises that help us achieve this
This first cognitive excision exercise consists of taking this annoying thought and putting it in the following sentence: “I am/I am not”. The goal is that we can complete the sentence in our own experience. For example, let’s add “I’m not good enough. ” We can write this sentence or say it aloud.
Now, let’s get into that sentence, “I’m not good enough. “We will feel this, even images of situations in which we feel this way come to mind. It is also possible that phrases from people who have made us feel this appear in our minds.
Well, once we get to the point where we are aware that we are not good enough, let’s take the next pattern of prayer and incorporate that thought into it. It would be like this: “I have the thought that I am. ” I have to say it out loud. What thoughts do we have?” I have the thought that I’m not good enough. “
What happened? Suddenly we completely separate ourselves from this thought, we see it from a certain angle, even if it is small, it is a great step forward Repeating this last statement several times will help us to move away from our thoughts and move forward with the second exercise.
We call this exercise because we believe it sums up its goal very well. To achieve this, let’s take a word we like. For example, “green”. Well, let’s repeat the word, Green?often. After repeating it for a while, we will probably find that it has lost its meaning.
Suddenly, we forget the definition of the word and see it only as a series of sounds that come out of our mouths, you can even see it in all its letters, but without any meaning, we can feel that we see a word in a language we do not know.
Well, once we get to that point with that word, will we take the words?Am I not good enough? We will repeat these words until their meaning is diluted in the movements of our mouth and in the vibrations of the sounds we emit. Thought, from one moment to the next, will no longer make sense.
These two exercises are very interesting to allow us to move away from intrusive thoughts, despite this, it is important to ask ourselves some questions once we have successfully completed them.
Is that helping me solve a situation, is that taking advantage of me?Are you taking me somewhere?
Certainly, now we will see it more clearly and say a resounding “no”. This will allow us to free ourselves from this thought and let it go. This is the final step to get rid of ruminant ideas that we couldn’t get rid of before. .
Cognitive excision is a very effective technique to treat unwanted thoughts, thoughts that can make us enjoy life less, that we drown in constant sadness and that everything seems meaningless.
When we see these thoughts as they are, that is, simple ideas in our minds, and we turn away from them, everything becomes clearer, before it seemed like a thick fog enveloped our heads, now thanks to cognitive excision, this fog gradually dissipates.