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Abstract

Abstract

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) uses metaphor extensively in its exercises with clients (Hayes et al., 2012). This paper analyzes a corpus of ACT defusion exercises to identify the patterns of construal they typically evoke. Findings show frequent use of the Divided-Person metaphor (Lakoff, 1996), with the two aspects of the mind (the Self and Subject) operating within an actual or potential force dynamic (FD) configuration (Talmy, 2000). Two main types of configurations emerge. Deliteralization exercises show shifts in the balance of strength between the Subject and Self. Observation exercises draw a contrast between a steady-state FD configuration involving a coerced Agonist and a secondary steady-state FD pattern in which a potentially coercing force was no longer impinging on the Agonist. The results demonstrate how FD and the Divided-Person metaphor systematically combine to construe mental phenomenology and dispositions. The analysis thus sheds light on the conceptual structures underlying therapeutic discourse in ACT.

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2026-01-20
2026-02-14

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Between the subject and the self
John Benjamins ; https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00249.mue
/content/journals/10.1075/rcl.00249.mue
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: deliteralization ; divided-person metaphor ; observation ; force dynamics ; metaphor ; defusion ; acceptance and commitment therapy, ACT ; therapeutic discourse

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