Episode Details

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Have you ever believed a thought about yourself so completely that it felt like fact? I’m not good enough. I’m a fraud. I can’t handle this. In this episode, Dr. Amy Backos explores what Acceptance and Commitment Therapy calls cognitive fusion—the very human tendency to get tangled up in our thoughts and treat them as truth.

Drawing from art therapy, neuroscience, and decades of clinical practice, Amy explains how self-critical thoughts form, why “imposter syndrome” is nearly universal, and how believing these thoughts can quietly shape our choices, relationships, and creative lives. When we’re fused, we shrink. When we learn to step back, we regain perspective—and freedom.

You’ll learn simple, powerful defusion practices to help you observe your thoughts rather than obey them, including language shifts, present-moment awareness, walking meditations, and art-based exercises like doodling and mindful mark-making. These tools gently retrain the brain to see thoughts as mental events—not facts—so you can respond from clarity instead of fear.

If you’ve ever felt held back by your inner critic, this episode offers a compassionate, practical path forward. Because you are not your thoughts—you’re the one noticing them. And from that place, everything opens.

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