Thought-action fusion

Thought-Action Fusion (TAF) is a polyseme defining false beliefs or self-confusing mind wandering about a biased and painful association/fusion between subjects' spontaneous thoughts and imaginary latent egodystonic desires or magical-thinking capabilities.[1][2] These imaginary latent egodystonic desires or magical-thinking capabilities generally express harmful actions/behaviours (e.g. compulsions) that subjects appraise as highly possible, even though they have never existed so far.[1][2][3]

Not to be confused with intrusive thoughts.
For other uses, see TAF (disambiguation).
Thought-action fusion
False beliefs from self-confusing mind-wandering about biased interpretations of intrusive thoughts are painful.
SpecialtyPsychiatry, clinical psychology

Causes

The main causes of TAF are (one or several) hold false beliefs that mind-wandering episodes involving cognitive/interpretation biases have generated, from specific patterns of intrusive thoughts.[1][2][3] Besides, a high level of negative affectivity is a mediator in the statistical relations between TAF and the existence of psychological pains (e.g. anxiety, depression and shame), or some mental disorders.[1][2]

Examples

An ADAA webinar highlighted several examples of TAF,[4] such as:

Intrusive thoughtsCognitive biasesFalse beliefs
Driving is exciting, but anyone can run down pedestrians.This terrible thought is definitively a sign.I am losing control; I am going to run over a pedestrian anytime...
My sharp knife could kill a baby.This horrific thought is almost surely revealing.I am probably going to kill my child in the near future...

Categories

The two main categories of TAF are the:

  • Likelihood TAF, i.e. anxious and false beliefs (e.g. magical thinking) assuming that specific intrusive thoughts would trigger the (thought) harmful events in the future;[1][3]
  • Moral TAF, i.e. uncertainty-evoking and false beliefs that specific intrusive thoughts about religiously or ethically/morally inappropriate behaviours, are as reprehensible or shameful as actually performing the intrusive thoughts' content.[1][2]

Diagnosis

Simple interviews with specific health professionals (e.g. psychologists, psychiatrists) allow diagnosing TAF; there also exists a reliable psychometrics/estimator which is the: thought-action fusion questionnaire/scale.[5][6]

Disorders

TAF happens in the anxiety disorders (e.g. GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorders (e.g. pure O) and eating disorders (e.g. anorexia); it generally worsens the mental disorders' severities or outcomes, irrespective of the treatments.[1][7][3]

Treatments

The main medial treatments for TAF are the cognitive-behavioral therapies,[1] but mindfulness therapies like the acceptance and commitment therapy may also help.[8][9] Moreover medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may increase the psychotherapy efficiency,[10] by alleviating the psychological pains the TAF induces—see section on Causes.

See also

References
  1. Thompson-Hollands J, Todd F, Barlow D (2013). "Thought-action fusion across anxiety disorder diagnoses: specificity and treatment effects". The Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. 201 (5): 407–413. doi:10.1097/NMD.0b013e31828e102c. PMC 3645350. PMID 23595095.
  2. Siev J, Berman N, Zhou R, Himelein-Wachowiak K (2022). "Predicting negative emotions in response to in vivo triggers of thought-action fusion". Journal Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. 33: 100723. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2022.100723. S2CID 247076174.
  3. Fite R, Magee J (2022). "The role of magical thinking, sensitivity, and thought content in thought-action fusion". Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 41 (2): 128–154. doi:10.1521/jscp.2022.41.2.128. S2CID 247988317.
  4. Kissen D, Greene P (2020). "What are intrusive thoughts and how can you deal with them". YouTube (Podcast). ADAA. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  5. Shafran R, Thordarson D, Rachman S (1996). "Thought-action fusion in obsessive compulsive disorder". Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 10 (5): 379–391. doi:10.1016/0887-6185(96)00018-7.
  6. Meyer J, Brown T (2012). "Psychometric evaluation of the thought–action fusion scale in a large clinical sample". Assessment. 20 (6): 764–775. doi:10.1177/1073191112436670. PMC 4418236. PMID 22315482.
  7. Lee E, Barney J, Twohig M, Lensegrav-Benson T, Quakenbush B (2020). "Obsessive compulsive disorder and thought action fusion: Relationships with eating disorder outcomes". Eating Behaviurs. 37: 101386. doi:10.1177/1073191112436670. PMC 4418236. PMID 32388080.
  8. Azad M, Manshaei G, Ghamarani A (2019). "The effect of mindfulness therapy on tolerance of uncertainty and thought-action fusion in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder". Quarterly Journal of Child Mental Health. 6 (1).
  9. Azad M, Manshaei G, Ghamarani A (2019). "Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on the signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder and thought-action fusion in the students with obsessive-compulsive disorder". Journal of Psychological Science. 18 (73).
  10. Besiroglu L, Çetinkaya N, Selvi Y, Atli A (2011). "Effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors on thought-action fusion, metacognitions, and thought suppression in obsessive-compulsive disorder". Comprehensive Psychiatry. 52 (5): 556–561. doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2010.10.003. PMID 21109243.
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