If you or your clients are spending all your time thinking about cancer, it gets in the way of living a fulfilling and meaningful life despite illness. Defusion involves taking a step back from your thoughts and seeing them for what they are, just a string of words and pictures floating through your head. When you are defused from your thoughts, it becomes less about whether your thoughts are right or wrong and more about whether they are working for you here and now.
This guide is designed for anyone with cancer, but also practitioners of ACT, including psychologists, therapists, and coaches, who are committed to helping clients with cancer build meaningful, values-driven lives. It was created by Sally Gardner Ward, an NHS Psychological Therapist diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer who kindly shared her ideas with Contextual Consulting for wider distribution.
Download defusion from thoughts about cancerDefusion from thoughts about cancer
This guide includes 10 metaphors that may be helpful for individuals who need help to defuse from thoughts about cancer. They include:
- The pocket oncologist
- The refrigerator
- The violin
- Cancer bait
- The Blob
- The time tyrant
- Cancer boomerang
- BORING!
- Ticking time bomb
- Guinness Book of World Records
