title: The development and initial validation of the cognitive fusion questionnaire.
abstract: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) emphasizes the relationship a person has with their thoughts and beliefs as potentially more relevant than belief content in predicting the emotional and behavioral consequences of cognition. In ACT, "defusion" interventions aim to "unhook" thoughts from actions and to create psychological distance between a person and their thoughts, beliefs, memories, and self-stories. A number of similar concepts have been described in the psychology literature (e.g., decentering, metacognition, mentalization, and mindfulness) suggesting converging evidence that how we relate to mental events may be of critical importance. While there are some good measures of these related processes, none of them provides an adequate operationalization of cognitive fusion. Despite the centrality of cognitive fusion in the ACT model, there is as yet no agreed-upon measure of cognitive fusion. This paper presents the construction and development of a brief, self-report measure of cognitive fusion: The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ). The results of a series of studies involving over 1,800 people across diverse samples show good preliminary evidence of the CFQ's factor structure, reliability, temporal stability, validity, discriminant validity, and sensitivity to treatment effects. The potential uses of the CFQ in research and clinical practice are outlined.
authors.affiliation: University of Edinburgh. Electronic address: david.gillanders@ed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Gillanders
authors.affiliation: University of Southampton.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bolderston
authors.affiliation: Goldsmiths, University of London.
authors.forename: Frank W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.affiliation: Royal Cornhill Hospital.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dempster
authors.affiliation: City University London.
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Flaxman
authors.affiliation: Royal Cornhill Hospital.
authors.forename: Lindsey
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Royal Cornhill Hospital.
authors.forename: Sian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.affiliation: Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tansey
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology, Dundee.
authors.forename: Penelope
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Noel
authors.affiliation: Cameron Hospital, Leven.
authors.forename: Clive
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferenbach
authors.affiliation: Royal Cornhill Hospital.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masley
authors.affiliation: University of Edinburgh.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roach
authors.affiliation: Goldsmiths, University of London.
authors.forename: Joda
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lloyd
authors.affiliation: Goldsmiths, University of London.
authors.forename: Lauraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: May
authors.affiliation: Bournemouth University.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.affiliation: University of Southampton.
authors.forename: Bob
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Remington
mesh_terms: D064869:Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D064866:Mindfulness; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: acceptance and commitment therapy; cognitive fusion; cognitive-behavior therapy; measurement; questionnaires