Practicing the ABC Model Worksheet

What is the ABC Model?

The ABC Model was created by Dr. Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)—the first form of CBT. It helps explain how psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems develop. The model emphasizes a key insight: our beliefs and interpretations—not the events themselves—create our emotional consequences.

A = Activating Event
B = Beliefs
C = Consequences

An activating event (A) is something in reality; an event or objective situation; our view of ourselves, others, or the world; or preceding beliefs.
Our beliefs (B) are the interpretations, evaluations, judgments, or assumptions we make about (A).
The consequences (C) are the emotional, cognitive, or behavioral responses we have or do that follow from and are connected to (A).

How Personal Disturbances Occur

• People have goals they try to achieve and actions they carry out.
• As they think, speak, and act, they encounter events (A) that activate their beliefs and emotions—starting a cognitive-emotional sequence.
  • A person’s belief system is shaped by early learning, internal self-talk, cultural and social messages, life experiences, and biological tendencies.
• The event (A) might help or hinder a person’s goals—but it does not contain distress by itself.
• We bring our own beliefs, expectations, and meanings to every situation.
• It’s not the event or another person’s actions that cause distress—it’s our evaluation of them.
• Our beliefs (B) mediate between what happens (A) and how we feel or act (C).
• While (C) may sometimes be partly reactive, irrational beliefs often magnify or prolong emotional and behavioral disturbances.

Download the Practicing the ABC Model Worksheet

“People and things do not upset us. Rather, we upset ourselves by believing that they can upset us.” Albert Ellis