Validation of the cognitive fusion questionnaire in regular meditators and persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Frontiers in Psychology January 1, 2026 Niklas Bergmann, Ingmar Conell, Inge Hahne et al.
Cognitive fusion—overidentifying with thoughts—undermines psychological flexibility and contributes to poor emotion regulation. This set of three studies tested the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ) in diverse groups. In Study 1, 779 regular meditators completed the English CFQ, which showed excellent internal consistency (α = 0.94) and a strong negative correlation with mindfulness (r = -0.67). In Study 2, 123 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders completed a German version (CFQ-D), which demonstrated high reliability (α = 0.92) and a moderate negative correlation with mindfulness (r = -0.30). In Study 3, a randomized controlled trial with 38 participants, those receiving mindfulness-based group therapy showed reduced cognitive fusion over time. The CFQ is a reliable, valid measure across clinical and non-clinical samples.