The ABC Model in CBT: Thoughts, Feelings and Actions

Two people can go through the same event and react very differently. A friend does not answer a message for a day. One person shrugs and gets on with the evening. Another feels sick, checks the phone every few minutes, and ends up avoiding everyone. The ABC model is a simple way to describe what sits between the event and the reaction. It is one of the first tools people meet in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and it is the first step of the CopingCard tool ABC Models.

The model

A is the Activating event: the situation in which emotions arise. Keep it factual: what a camera would have recorded.

B is what you made of it: the thoughts, images and beliefs that came with the situation.

C is the Consequences: what you felt (emotions, body sensations) and what you did.

As a table:

An example: Dan and the unanswered message

Dan sends a message to a friend in the morning. By evening, there is no answer.

The same A could have led to "They must be busy today" and a quiet evening. The situation did not decide Dan's reaction on its own. What he made of it mattered too. That is the point of the model, and it is not about blame: given the thought he had, his reaction makes sense.

Where the model comes from

The ABC model was developed by Albert Ellis, who began rational emotive therapy in 1955 (today rational emotive behavior therapy, REBT). For Ellis, B stood for beliefs, and in particular for rigid, absolute demands: "people must always answer me", "I must be liked or I am worthless", "this is unbearable". He contrasted these demands with flexible preferences ("I would like a reply"). A preference can be disappointed without devastating you. A demand that is broken tends to bring intense distress.

Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy, which grew up alongside Ellis's, adds a close look at automatic thoughts: the quick, specific thoughts that appear in a situation ("They're fed up with me"), and the deeper rules and core beliefs beneath them. In everyday CBT the two ideas blend, and the B column of the ABC Models tool holds both what flashed through your mind and what lies behind it.

One moment shapes the next

An ABC describes one moment. What happens at C does not end there: it shapes the moments that follow.

Dan feels anxious and withdraws. Because he does not contact his friend, he never finds out what the silence meant, so the thought "They're fed up with me" goes untested. His low mood makes the next gloomy interpretation more likely. In CBT language, avoidance and safety-seeking behaviors stop beliefs from being disconfirmed. What Dan does at C shapes his next A and B. When the same pattern repeats over many moments, several ABCs together can be mapped as a vicious cycle; that is a separate step, with its own tool.

Seeing this matters because it shows where change is possible. You can test the thought, you can step back from it, or you can change what you do next.

What the model does and does not claim

It describes. It does not prove. The model does not say that thoughts are the only cause of feelings. Your body, sleep, history, relationships and circumstances all matter, and mood shapes which thoughts come to mind. The ABC is a useful lens, not a complete theory of you.

It does not hunt for the "right" thought. The aim is not to replace a negative thought with a cheerful one. Perhaps Dan's friend really is annoyed. Perhaps they are ill, or busy, or have lost their phone. The ABC does not decide that. It makes the question askable, and it points to what to try next: check the evidence, run an experiment, or notice the thought without acting on it.

It is a first level of a formulation. In CBT a formulation is a shared map of what keeps a person's difficulties going. A single ABC is the "right now" level of that map, a snapshot of one episode. Further levels cover how patterns developed over time and the deeper beliefs and rules that sit under them. Several ABCs side by side often reveal a pattern.

Where the ABC fits in the CBT family

The ABC is the doorway to several other methods.

• To check the thought: the Dysfunctional Thoughts Test examines the B in depth, with evidence, alternatives and a balanced thought.
• To find the belief underneath: Downward Arrows follows a thought down to the rule or core belief behind it.
• To test it in life: Behavior Experiments turns the B into a prediction to try out.
• To see a repeating pattern: Vicious Cycles maps how several ABCs feed each other into a cycle.
• To step back from a thought: acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based approaches teach noticing "I'm having the thought that..." as an alternative to changing it.

A single ABC fits a recent, specific episode well. For long-standing patterns, or where trauma or intense distress is involved, treat it as a starting point and take it to a therapist.

How to fill in an ABC Model in CopingCard

1. Open ABC Models and start a new one.
2. Write the situation (A) in plain, factual words. Where were you? What happened?
3. Write your thoughts (B). What went through your mind? Include images. If there is more than one thought, list them all.
4. Write your emotions and rate how strong each was (C).
5. Add your body sensations and what you did (C).
6. Read it as a whole. What is the link between the thought, the feeling and the action? Did what you did make the thought more or less likely to be tested?
7. Choose a next step. That might be a Dysfunctional Thoughts Test on the main thought, or keeping the ABC and noticing whether the pattern repeats.

With a therapist, you can share your ABC Models so that a session can start from your real week.

When to get more help

The ABC model is a self-help tool, and it works best alongside support when things are heavy. If your low mood, anxiety or worry is making daily life hard, if something from the past keeps overwhelming you, or if you have thoughts of harming yourself, please talk to a therapist or doctor. If you are in crisis, open the Crisis tab in the app or contact your local emergency number. You do not have to deal with it alone.

Sources

• Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy. Lyle Stuart.
• Ellis, A., & Dryden, W. (2007). The Practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing.
• Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Guilford Press.
• Beck, A. T., & Haigh, E. A. P. (2014). Advances in cognitive theory and therapy: The generic cognitive model. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 10, 1-24.
• Beck, J. S. (2021). Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
• Kuyken, W., Padesky, C. A., & Dudley, R. (2009). Collaborative Case Conceptualization. Guilford Press.
• Salkovskis, P. M. (1991). The importance of behaviour in the maintenance of anxiety and panic: A cognitive account. Behavioural Psychotherapy, 19, 6-19.
• Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.