ABC Model

 "Man is not troubled by the events but by the meaning he gives them" - Epictetus. Taking inspiration from this, Albert Ellis (an American psychologist) created a model to illustrate how people tend to upset themselves under certain situations. This is widely known as the ABC model.

A - Activating Event/Adversity: An event that occurs 

B - Belief: The belief held about the event

C - Consequence: Response to the event (emotion and behavior)

As per the ABC model, emotions and behaviors (Consequences) are not directly caused by the events (Activating Event) themselves but by the beliefs (B) we hold about such events. Beliefs can be further divided into rational and irrational beliefs. 

Activating Event + Belief = Consequence

Depending on the type of belief that we hold, we may end up with healthy or unhealthy negative emotions. To be more specific, much of the disturbance experienced by us are caused by the irrational beliefs that we hold about events that occur in our lives. Let's take a look into a scenario to understand this better. 

Example

Activating Event - I receive a low performance rating at year-end appraisal. 

Belief - My manager must not be so discriminative and inconsiderate.

Consequence - I feel angry and shout at my manager for his inconsiderate behavior. UNHEALTHY

Activating Event - I receive a low performance rating at year-end appraisal. 

Belief - It must be my bad time that I fell sick in the last quarter which has resulted in this poor rating. I am going to be laid off.

Consequence - I feel anxious about being laid off and curse my bad time for the low performance rating. UNHEALTHY

Activating Event - I receive a low performance rating at year-end appraisal. 

Belief - I must be a useless person who is not fit for any job.

Consequence - I feel depressed and not interested to work anymore. UNHEALTHY

In all the examples mentioned above, the Activating Event tends to remain the same. However, depending on the belief I hold about the event, my emotion and behavior vary. Also note that the consequences include unhealthy negative emotions. Now let us try to reframe those beliefs into rational ones, to experience healthy negative emotions.

Activating Event - I receive a low performance rating at year-end appraisal. 

Belief - I wish my manager was more considerate of my efforts and had recommended a better rating.

Consequence - I feel disappointed and reach out to my manager to understand why I received a low performance rating. HEALTHY

Activating Event - I receive a low performance rating at year-end appraisal. 

Belief - Sometimes unexpected situations do occur. I may be laid off due to this but I can find another job.

Consequence - I feel concerned and start searching for job opportunities. HEALTHY

Activating Event - I receive a low performance rating at year-end appraisal. 

Belief - Maybe I haven't yet gained necessary skills to perform the role I am in.

Consequence - I feel sad and reach out to my manager to help me with skill improvement. HEALTHY

Hope the above examples helped understand how our beliefs play an important role in how we feel and behave at different situations. In the upcoming posts there will be more information on how to prevent oneself (or recover) from being upset and convert irrational beliefs to rational beliefs so that one can experience healthy negative emotions.