The ABCDE Framework

REBT is built on the premise that our emotional and behavioral disturbances are driven by fundamental, dysfunctional beliefs we hold about ourselves, other people, and life in general. To create lasting emotional and behavioral change, REBT uses a 5-step process called the ABCDE model. The goal is to identify our unique dysfunctional attitudes and replace them with healthier alternatives. Here you will be introduced to the model and how to use it.

To start, you can either download the PDF version at the end of the page or you can take a piece of paper and create five sections labeled as follows:

A: Adversity

B: Basic Attitudes 

C: Consequences

D: Disputation

E: Effective alternative

Although the worksheet is presented in alphabetical order, we actually start with A:  Adversity and skip to C: Consequences. We skip the B and come back to it after these two are completed. Then we move on to the Disputations and the Effective Alternatives.

Step 1 (A): Adversity

The first step in REBT is to identify a situation or problem that you want to address. As Charles Kettering, a leading engineer and inventor of his time, said: "A problem well stated is half-solved." 

An adverse event has two components: the objective event- “my father lost his business”- and the hunches or ideas we have about the event- “he was never the same with us afterwards”. 

Some helpful ideas to complete the first part of the process, the objective or factual component are:

• Describe the what, when, where, and who. Leave out the why.

• Describe the event as a witness might describe it in a courtroom.

Example: “I failed the entrance exam to the university”

In the second part of the A the goal is to identify your thoughts and hunches about the event. Here are some examples:

“I didn’t prepare enough”

“The exam was rigged”

“I’m a total idiot”

Step 2 (C): Skip to Consequences

This is about identifying the emotional and behavioral consequences associated with the event presented in A.

Emotions:

The goal here is to identify your emotions.  An easy way to do it is by using a label, such as sad, angry, or anxious, and a qualifier such as intense, mild, and extreme. We have found it helpful to make a list available with some of the ones we see more often. Use it if you find it helpful:

• Anger / Rage

• Hurt

• Sadness

• Anxiety

• Shame

• Guilt

• Embarrassment

Behaviors:

Behaviors are about what you did or did not do about the incident. For instance, you might have sulked when you wanted to confront someone, or you might have yelled when you would have preferred to have a quiet conversation.

When you’re identifying the emotional and behavioral consequences it also helps to identify the desired emotional and behavioral responses or outcomes. How would you have preferred to respond, both emotionally and behaviorally?

Step 3 (B): Basic Attitudes

REBT works from the principle that our emotional and behavioral disorders stem in large part from rigid and extreme basic or fundamental attitudes we hold towards ourselves, others and life. These are often expressed in terms like should, must, have to, need to, and so forth. 

Here are a few examples of how fundamental attitudes are explicitly or implicitly expressed and identified:

• I should always …

• I must never….

• Others should always….

• People should never… 

• Life should….

• Life should never….

When these fundamental rules are broken we tend to associate the lapse with equally extreme and rigid consequences:

1. We make extreme and rigid evaluations of ourselves:

   1. “I should always do well. If I don’t I’m worthless”.

2. We make extreme and rigid evaluations of others:

   1. “People should always do their job. They’re awful if they dont”

3. We make extreme and rigid evaluations of difficult life events:

   1. “Life should not be so hard. It’s unbearable when it is”

Putting It All Together: A Quick Real-World Example

To see how these first three steps connect before we move into challenging and changing our beliefs, let's look at a brief example:

• (A) Activating Event: 

  • Description:

    • “My coworker didn't reply to my email about the project status report”.

  • Opinions:

    • “She’s ignoring me. She has no right to do that” 

• (B) Basic Attitudes:

  •  "People must always do what they’re supposed to.  If they don't,  they must be corrected”

• (C) Consequences: 

  • Emotional:

    • “I felt angry and anxious”

  • Behavioral:

    • “I ended up sending a snarky follow-up message”.

Step 4 (D): Disputation (of Basic Attitudes)

This is where the therapeutic part of REBT begins. Basic attitudes are difficult to change. They are typically acquired early on and for good or bad they have gotten us to where we’re at.  Examining them closely and evaluating their helpfulness and validity  and deciding what you want to do with them is a necessary part of change and growth.  

To examine the fundamental attitudes identified in B, REBT has developed several questions that have been found to be especially helpful. You don’t have to use all of them and you don’t need to write out answers:

1. How does this attitude work in real life? Is it helping me navigate the challenges I am being confronted with? This is referred to as the functional or practical question.

2. Does the attitude make logical sense? If A happens, does B follow? If I make a mistake does it follow that I must be totally worthless?

3. If a 12-year-old came to ask you for advice about the best attitude to have towards himself, others or life,  would you advise them to adopt the attitude expressed in B? 

4. Is there any evidence to support the validity of the attitude expressed in B? Does the evidence support the idea that you must not make any mistakes and that if you do you’re worthless?

Step 5 (E): Effective Alternatives

It is highly likely that when you conclude your examination of the basic attitudes you identified in B, you may decide that you want to at least consider and internalize, different more functional alternatives.  To do this we identify alternatives that, when put through the disputation process, generate more satisfying answers. 

The best way to come up with effective alternatives is often not to re-invent the wheel. It is to simply re-state them as flexible preferences rather than fundamental necessities. For instance, consider replacing a fundamental attitude that "people should treat me respectfully at all times, and that if they don't they're worthless" with a flexible alternative: "I would prefer that people treat me respectfully at all times, but they don’t absolutely have to. If they don’t it just means they’re human”.

Once you have come up with a possible replacement, REBT encourages you to subject it to the same process as you did the previous attitude. You want your alternative to make sense, to be supported by evidence, to help you function in life, and to be able to share it as a means of coping with life's challenges. The questions are the same:

• If you were to hold on to the idea that "I would prefer that people treat me respectfully at all times, but it doesn't absolutely have to happen. If it doesn't, it just means people have their own flaws, not that I am worthless"—is that idea going to help you function better in life?

• Does it make sense? Does it hold logically to believe: "I would prefer that people treat me respectfully at all times, but it doesn't absolutely have to happen. If it doesn't, it just means people have their own flaws, not that I am worthless."

• Would you advise a 12-year-old to believe the idea that it would be better if people treat them respectfully at all times, but it doesn't absolutely have to happen, and that if it doesn't, it just means people have flaws?

• Is there any evidence to support the alternative explanation? The idea that it would be nice if people always respected me but they don’t have to?

Once you identify an effective alternative and put it through the disputation process, ask yourself: what would be different if you were to give up the old attitude and adopt the effective alternative?  How would I feel and how would I react to similar circumstances in the future?

Understanding how to get from point A to point B and actually getting there are two different things. Change does not come easy but it is certainly possible . To start, take some time every day to apply the ABCDE process to  events in the past or the future that you find emotionally or behaviorally disturbing. Initially you might find it cumbersome and artificial but as your skill grows it becomes much more internalized and automatic. 

There are times in which you may wish to consult with a therapist specializing in REBT. In the resources section I will offer some possibilities.