How to unhook clients from language without getting stuck in the content.

In Episode 6, Todd zooms in on cognitive defusion—not as a clever technique, but as a behavioral process grounded in Functional Contextualism. Often misunderstood as a tool to “get rid of thoughts,” defusion is reframed here as a way to shift the function of language itself—so that thoughts become options, not orders.

You’ll learn how language hooks behavior through relational frames, and how to help clients build enough psychological distance to notice thoughts without automatically reacting to them.

Todd breaks down:

• Why defusion isn’t about “thinking positive” or arguing with the mind

• How fusion shows up in-session (e.g., rule-governed behavior, identity labels, stuck reasoning loops)

• Process-based strategies to disrupt fusion in real time, including voice-naming, “I’m having the thought…” phrasing, and metaphor-based pivots

• How to track whether your intervention is actually shifting function, not just surface content

• Why defusion always needs context—values, awareness, and reinforcement—to stick

Clinician Takeaway: You’ll leave with a clear, functional lens for identifying fusion, shaping defusion in-session, and reinforcing flexible thinking patterns—without needing clients to change what they think, only how they relate to thinking.