Cognitive defusion and Winnie the Ph
Living with chronic pain doesn’t just affect the body — it profoundly affects the mind.
Pain generates thoughts.
Thoughts generate fear, frustration, and exhaustion.
And before long, you find yourself caught in an exhausting inner battle with their own minds.
When we practice being mindful of our thoughts, I picture Winnie the Pooh — sitting quietly, honey pot in hand, pausing and saying:
“Ah… thinking.”
Pooh isn’t alarmed by his thoughts.
He doesn’t wrestle with them.
He doesn’t try to make them stop.
He notices them — and carries on.
That simple moment captures the heart of cognitive defusion, one of the core skills in ACT for chronic pain.
The Problem Isn’t the Thought — It’s the Grip It Has
When pain is persistent, the mind does what minds are designed to do:
it tries to protect you.
This often shows up as thoughts like:
“This pain will ruin my life.”
“I won’t be able to cope if this gets worse.”
“My body is broken.”
“I can’t do the things I used to.”
These thoughts are understandable.
They are not signs of weakness or failure.
They are the mind responding to ongoing threat.
The difficulty arises when we become fused with these thoughts — when they stop feeling like thoughts and start feeling like absolute truths that dictate how we live.
This fusion can quietly shrink life:
less movement, less connection, less joy, less meaning.
What Is Cognitive Defusion in ACT?
Cognitive defusion doesn’t try to challenge pain-related thoughts or replace them with positive ones.
Instead, ACT asks a different question:
“How can I relate differently to this thought?”
Defusion helps us see thoughts as:
mental events,
words and images produced by the brain,
not instructions or predictions that must be obeyed.
This shift is subtle — but powerful.
Pooh models this beautifully.
He doesn’t say:
“I shouldn’t be thinking this.”
He simply says:
“Ah… thinking.”
A Pooh-Inspired Defusion Practice for Pain
The next time pain triggers a familiar mental spiral — worry, fear, catastrophising — try this:
Pause for a moment.
Take a slow breath.
Gently say to yourself:
“Ah… thinking.”
You might also try:
“I’m having the thought that my pain will never improve.”
“My mind is telling me a scary story right now.”
Notice what happens.
The thought may still be there.
The pain may still be there.
But often, the struggle softens.
And that softening matters.
Why Defusion Matters in Chronic Pain
ACT does not promise a life without pain.
Instead, it offers something more realistic and more compassionate:
A life that is bigger than pain.
When thoughts loosen their grip, people often find they can:
move gently toward what matters,
stay engaged with relationships,
participate in life in new ways,
even while pain remains present.
Like Pooh wandering through the Hundred Acre Wood, thoughts tagging along — but not in charge.
A Final Reflection
Cognitive defusion is not about ignoring pain.
It’s not about pretending things are fine.
And it’s certainly not about “positive thinking.”
It’s about learning to live with pain — without letting painful thoughts run your life.
Winnie the Pooh may not have trained in ACT, but he embodies its spirit perfectly:
curious,
kind,
unhurried,
and not at war with his own mind.
Sometimes, the most powerful response to pain-driven thinking really is just this:
“Ah… thinking.”
