![]() However, worry and rumination contribute to inflating the sense of threat. Again, the aim is to avoid the threat or danger that is portrayed by intrusive thoughts.įor example, a person who has an intrusive thought, “ Did I check for any remaining guests before I closed down the restaurant?” will worry about it because she believes that worrying will make her cautious and reduce the risk.Ī person with the intrusion, “Maybe I hit someone with my car?” will ruminate to search her memory for any gaps or signs of an accident. It is also common in OCD to worry, ruminate, and analyze as a response to intrusive thoughts. ![]() This happens verbally or through experiments. For example, the therapist might ask her patient to exaggerate intrusive thoughts to see if the patient will act on them. Once the patient understands the connection between intrusions and fusion beliefs, the therapist challenges the fusion beliefs. What does it mean to you?” and “Is having that thought harmful or dangerous?“ ![]() This is the reason that people with OCD do rituals.Īn MCT therapist will ask: “ It sounds like having that thought means something negative. This process causes anxiety, guilt, disgust, or anger.īecause of metacognitive beliefs, intrusive thoughts are perceived as a sign of threat that needs to be avoided or neutralized. Therefore, when a person with OCD has intrusive thoughts, their metacognitive beliefs about the importance of that thought get activated. However, fusion beliefs are incorrect and give intrusive thoughts excessive negative importance. People with OCD usually have one or several of these fusion beliefs. “Having bad thoughts and feelings will ruin objects, and I will never escape from that experience.” TOF is the belief that thoughts and feelings can be transferred into things so that they can cause harm to oneself or other people.įor example, people who hoard struggle to throw something away because of a possible TOF belief. “Having a thought about strangling the baby will make me do it.” 3) Thought-object fusion (TOF) For example, if a person has an urge to stab someone while holding a knife, he believes that he will do it.Īnother version of this belief is that having an intrusive thought while doing something (for example, having a thought about illness while walking into a room) has the power to make the thought more real. TAF is the belief that intrusive thoughts, feelings, or impulses have the power to make a person do unwanted things. “Having a thought about an accident means that it must have happened.” 2) Thoughts-action fusion (TAF) “Having a thought about my house being contaminated means that it is true.” For example, if a person thinks, “ Have I killed someone?” the thought itself leads to the belief that he has probably killed someone. TEF is a belief that intrusive thoughts can make certain things happen. Fusion beliefs are divided into three areas: 1) Thought-event fusion (TEF) Metacognitive beliefs about intrusive thoughts are called fusion beliefs (5) and tell a person that intrusive thoughts are important. Intrusive thoughts activate a person’s metacognitive beliefs about the importance of the thought. Step 2 – Metacognitive beliefs make you believe that thoughts come true Detached mindfulness is a technique used to step back from thoughts. It is a “do nothing” to thoughts and feelings instead of neutralizing, transforming, worrying, suppressing, or ruminating about thoughts (2).ĭetached mindfulness: mindfulness means being aware of thoughts, feelings, memories, and beliefs, and detachment means not engaging with thoughts, feelings, memories, and beliefs, and that a person (the self) is separated from these inner events. The problem is having a thought about contamination, accidents, or unlocked doors that makes the person with OCD believe in its validity.Īn MCT therapist will show the patient alternative strategies for dealing with intrusions through a technique called detached mindfulness (DM). The problem for the person with OCD is not contamination, accidents, or unlocked doors. ![]() A patient with OCD must understand how the problem is not accidents, violence, or contamination but thoughts about accidents, violence, and contamination.Īt the early stages of treatment, the MCT therapist will ask: “ Is the problem that the house is contaminated, or is the problem your thought that it is contaminated?“ ![]()
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