Cognitive Defusion and Decentering are very similar ideas. Both take an objective approach to thoughts and try to alter the effects of those thoughts on a person. Some articles say they are synonymous for each other except that one is used in ACT and the other in CBT. 

Wake Forest University

Decentering is the ability to focus on the present and achieve a level of nonjudgementality about one's thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It can reduce depressive rumination by changing a patient's attention to their thoughts.

Decentering

Techniques that attempt to alter the undesirable functions of thoughts rather than trying to change their form, frequency, or situational sensitivity. It tries to change the way one interacts with or relates to thoughts. 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy core process: Cognitive defusion

McCracken LM, Barker E, Chilcot J. Decentering, rumination, cognitive defusion, and psychological flexibility in people with chronic pain. J Behav Med. 2014 Dec;37(6):1215-25. doi: 10.1007/s10865-014-9570-9. Epub 2014 May 17. PMID: 24838420.

Decentering, rumination, cognitive defusion, and psychological flexibility in people with chronic pain.

Decentering vs Cognitive Defusion

Decentering — particularly when utilized in mindfulness-based interventions — represents a metacognitive capacity thought to reflect three processes that are interconnected: meta-awareness, disidentification from internal experience, and reduced reactivity to thought content. These three neurobehavioral processes have been found to reliably increase with the use of MBI.

Decentering as a Metacognitive Capacity

Compared to the control group  (treatment as usual or TAU), the ACT+TAU group showed a decrease in the believability of their symptoms during the 4 month follow-up.  The rapid decrease in believability can be due to the cognitive defusion of the delusional beliefs and hallucinations. 

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