ABC Model

Break the cycle of negative thoughts and behaviours

This is the model that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is based upon. It may help you to make sense of how you're feeling or what's going on in your head.

Activating event --------------Belief (thoughts) -------------------Consequences (feelings)

It is commonly thought that it is the experience (activating event) that affects how you feel and it is definitely the way a depressed person thinks. For example you might answer a question wrong in a seminar and then feel upset. In fact it is your belief about yourself ,"I'm a rubbish person" that affects makes you feel upset. The consequences in turn impact on your thoughts, leading full circle.

So you might experience the same event but instead think, "oops maybe I should have done a bit more reading before hand" making you just feel a bit embarrassed. This might then be beneficial because you would make sure you did the reading properly before the next seminar.

Activating events can be internal as well as external. For example you could wake up, see your massive to do list and think "I'm never going to be able to do all that, what's the point in trying", end up feeling flat and depressed and stay in bed longer. Or you could think "I'm so useless for letting it get so long" and end up self harming as a punishment. Or you could think "It's really long but I'm only going to tackle the first 3 today" leading to a consequence that you get some of it done and feel a bit better.

In short it is OUR thoughts that affect OUR feelings.

Take another example where you might automatically think that it is other people making us feel rubbish. In fact, other people have no control of how we feel, that is only down to ourselves and the thoughts that go through our heads.
Say one of your friends who you're working with on a project came to you and said "That bit you just submitted is not very good". This is the activating event (A). You could think:

• (B) "That proves I'm useless" --> (C) Give up. Friends get annoyed with you.
• (B) "I tried really hard" --> (C) Shout back at them. Rest of group talk about you behind your back saying you're unpredictable.
• (B) "I did that quickly, I could have done better" --> (C) Try harder on next bit. Rest of group are really pleased with your next effort.

As you can see, the one thing that your friend said to you can have very different consequences depending on what your automatic thoughts are and how you behave as a consequence of them.

The best way to start changing these thoughts is to tackle the behaviours which can then break the vicious circle that you have probably been sucked into. For example, if you are isolating yourself, the consequences are that you feel worse as you have no positive contact with anyone then that leads you to thinking that you are a bad person which in turn means you isolate yourself more etc.

If you can break this behaviour by, for example, spending time in you living room with housemates instead of your room, you'll receive positive contact which will impact on your thoughts. Instead of feeling worse, you might become a bit brighter by being around other people who care about you so you might start thinking things like "I've got the support I need around me to try and get better".

This model can be applied in everyday life, not just by people who are struggling with a mental illness. It sounds simple and it is but that hard bit is putting into practice as you are going against what is automatic for you. In time and with practice, it becomes more automatic for you to change the negative thoughts which create negative behaviours and consequences.