The ABC(DE)s of CBT

CBT can be used to address many different types of conditions such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and anger, among other conditions.

Before we start, what is CBT? CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a type of psychotherapy (definition coming) that focuses on a better understanding of oneself to remove negative thoughts and feelings versus taking a more medicinal based approach using antidepressants, mood stabilizers, etc. CBT can be used to address many different types of conditions such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and anger, among other conditions.

Psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy (though that doesn’t do it justice) is a form of therapy that focuses on the present while taking into account past experiences and future expectations. The purpose is to help people ‘help themselves’ and improve their overall health and well-being.

Now, getting back to the subject, the ABC(DE)s of CBT provide a simple and effective approach to step back from how we are feeling in order understand why we are feeling this way. This model was created in Dr. Albert Ellis, one of the most influential psychotherapists in history and is still in use today. Just as the alphabet is a foundation to help us understand the language of the English-speaking world, the ABCs of CBT provides a pathway to help us better understand why we respond or react in the ways that we do in certain situations. ABC stands for:

Activating Event - In our lives there are events that act as ‘triggers’, starting a process that may lead to a very quick response from us. The focus is usually on negative events that cause an unhealthy reaction in ourselves. However, going through this exercise using a positive experience to start helps us better analyse and understand the negative experiences as well.

Consequence - The way we normally see things that that an Activating event immediately triggers

a response or Consequence. We could be having a great day and one thought or external event causes us to react quickly and throw the rest of our day or even longer out of whack.

Belief - Hidden between A and C is a Belief or thought pattern that leads us down the path quickly to our Consequence or reaction to the situation. This is the hardest component to identify when looking back as this pattern is usually hidden deep down in our subconscious or even unconscious mind, where we aren’t even aware of our actions and thoughts without a conscious effort.

Dispute – Taking a more rational approach to this same event, we can review the ABCs of an event and dispute or challenge our Beliefs, with a factual or logical analysis. Events are rarely as bad as we think it is especially when we take the time to step back and reassess from a less ‘impared’ viewpoint.

Effect – As a result of the Disputing viewpoint, we are able to achieve a more positive effect or outcome from that same situation. Though hard to see when we live in the trigger->react mind, moving to the trigger -> pause/assess -> respond mindset will grant us the benefit of moving away from consistently negative though patterns.

An example of the ABC model is provided below. The Belief and Consequences may be on the extreme end of the spectrum but the intention was to give an example of how the negative thinking process goes to promote a better understanding of ourselves.

​(A)ctivating Event	(B)elief	(C)onsequence
My friend got a promotion and I didn’t	I’m not as good as other people, I’m not worth promoting, I’m a loser, I’m not good at anything in life, I’m missing out on opportunities.	Depressed, angry, worried, anxious

When going through this exercise either by ourselves or with a therapist/CBT practitioner, we are able to see negative thought patterns without necessarily getting caught up in our emotional responses.

Taking this one step further by adding a D and E to the alphabet, we can also Dispute or Disagree with our emotions. Using our more rational, conscious mind we can look at the same situation from a different perspective: what factual inconsistencies or observations can be identified in our beliefs, in reality is it as bad as we think it is, would someone else perceive it the same way we do, what’s really going on here. The D can be identified by a therapist but it’s usually best if we’re able to get there on our own. The E focuses on the effect of the disputing viewpoint, usually resulting in a more meaningful and valuable ‘action oriented’ outcome.

(A)ctivating Event	(B)elief	(C)onsequence	(D)ispute	(E)ffect
My friend got a promotion and I didn’t	I’m not as good as other people, I’m not worth promoting, I’m a loser, I’m not good at anything in life, I’m missing out on opportunities.	Depressed, angry, worried, anxious	Just because my friend got the promotion, doesn’t reflect on me at all, they are two completely separate occurrences.	Maybe I didn’t get the promotion this time, but I can find out how my friend did it. I need to understand the path to promotion for my role/company

There is no silver bullet in real life, especially when it comes to better understanding our minds but by taking the ABC adopting this approach, we can re-train our brain to become more positive and silence the unwarranted negativity within us.