Hungry Tiger

An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Metaphor

Imagine you wake up one morning and just outside your front door you find an

adorable tiger kitten mewing. of course you bring the little guy inside to keep as a

pet. After playing with him for a while, you notice he is still mewing, nonstop, and you

realize he must be hungry. you feed him a bit of bloody, red ground beef knowing that is

what tigers like to eat. You do this every day, and every day your pet tiger grows a little

bigger. Over the course of two years, your tigerʼs daily meals change from hamburger

scraps, to prime rib, to entire sides of beef. Soon your little pet no longer mews when

hungry. Instead, he growls ferociously at you whenever he thinks itʼs mealtime. Your

cute little pet has turned into an uncontrollable, savage beast that will tear you apart if

he doesnʼt get what he wants.

Your struggle with pain can be compared to this imaginary pet tiger. Every time

you empower your pain by feeding it the red meat of avoidance, you help

your pain-tiger grow a little big larger and a little bit larger and a little bit stronger.

Feeding it in this manner seems like the prudent thing to do. The pain-tiger growls

ferociously telling you to feed it whatever it wants or it will eat you. Yet, every time you

feed it, you help the pain to become stronger, more intimidating, and more controlling of

your life.