Understanding ACT · 03 / 04
Relational Frame Theory
Why a single sentence can set something off in us, even though nothing is happening right now.
Through language, people can create relationships between things. It is exactly this ability that makes complex thinking possible – but it can also mean that memories, judgements or imagined scenarios strongly influence how we behave right now.
“I'm going to fail.”
ImageMemoryFeelingBehaviourA simple thought experiment
“I'm going to fail.”
To begin with, there are only four words on the screen.
- create an image
- activate memories
- trigger physical tension
- change behaviour
- lead us to avoid something
How can language do that?
This is exactly the kind of phenomenon Relational Frame Theory (RFT) tries to examine.
We think in relationships
People can create relationships such as these, for example:
bigger than · smaller than · earlier than · later than · better than · worse than · belongs to · opposite of · similar to
- BERLIN
- belongs to Germany
- bigger than Friedrichshain
- far away from Munich
- where my flat is
- where I work
An object gets its meaning not in isolation, but through its relationships to other things. “Berlin” isn't just a word – it stands in relation to a country, to other places, to a life of its own.
A is bigger than B.
B is bigger than C.
So: A is bigger than C.
This conclusion can be derived even though we were never directly taught the relationship between A and C.
Three core ideas – explained simply
RFT describes a few basic patterns by which this relational thinking works. Here are the three most important ones, without assuming any jargon.
Relationships work in both directions
If I learn that A is bigger than B, a relationship from B to A follows as well – namely, that B is smaller than A. This second relationship never had to be learned separately.
mutual entailment
Relationships can be combined
If A is bigger than B and B is bigger than C, it follows that A is also bigger than C – as in the example above, without ever having learned this specific relationship.
combinatorial entailment
Meaning can transfer
When the meaning or relationship of a stimulus changes, the way we respond to it emotionally or behaviourally can change too – even without any direct personal experience of that stimulus.
transformation of stimulus functions
The problem isn't that we have language.
This ability is enormously useful. Among other things, it makes possible:
planning · learning · remembering · problem-solving · culture · cooperation · imagining the future
But the same ability also makes possible sentences like these:
- “What if …?”
- “I am …”
- “I should have …”
- “Other people must think …”
- “This mustn't happen.”
We can suffer from events that only exist as memories – or that haven't happened yet.
And what does this have to do with ACT?
ACT doesn't usually try to abolish language or replace every difficult thought with a more positive one. Instead, it can be about changing your relationship to a thought.
I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
I'M HAVING THE THOUGHT: “I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH.”
RIGHT NOW THERE IS THE THOUGHT: “I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH.”
The content of the words has hardly changed. The relationship to them, however, can change.
This is one of the ideas behind cognitive defusion.
Language is neither enemy nor friend
Language and thinking are tools – enormously powerful, but with no fixed moral direction.
Whether a thought is helpful or unhelpful also depends on how it influences our behaviour in a particular situation – not only on whether it is true or false.
Not every thought has to be refuted. Sometimes it's enough to be able to recognise it as a thought.
A small everyday example
You want to ask someone for something.
“They're bound to turn me down.”
Fusion
thought
is treated as a fact
no request
Defusion / flexibility
thought is noticed
uncertainty is allowed to be there
action in line with a value becomes possible
No promise that the second option is always better or right. Context decides.
How deeply do I need to understand RFT?
For ACT-based counselling, you don't need to know RFT at all.
The theory explains part of the scientific background. In a session, we work with your concrete experience – not with theoretical definitions.
Further reading
You don't have to understand RFT to make progress in counselling.
ACT works with your concrete experience – the theory stays in the background.
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