Really? Right in Front of My ABCs?

[DISCLAIMER]

Photo credit (edited), fair use

The psychotherapeutic modality I practice in both my personal and professional life is Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Aside from the technique of unconditional acceptance, the other major tool associated with this model is aligned with the English alphabet.

Specifically, REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence. This is known as self-disturbance.

In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people often use to upset themselves: global evaluations, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness. When contemplating these unproductive beliefs, think of the acronym GLAD.

Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive philosophies of life in order to explore Effective new beliefs. Whereas rigid beliefs cause self-disturbance, flexible beliefs result in an un-disturbed condition.

Noteworthy, in a blogpost entitled The Formula I stated of the ABC model:

The ABC model is framed as follows:

(A)ction – What occurred

(B)elief – What you told yourself about (A) that resulted in (C)

(C)onsequence – What you felt (emotion or bodily sensation) about what happened and what you did (behavior)

(D)isputation – How you might challenge (D) what you told yourself (B), which led to (C)

(E)ffective new belief – What (E)ffective new beliefs you can tell yourself rather than using unhelpful or unhealthy narratives (B). […]

Action + Belief  = Consequence ÷ Disputation  = Effective new belief

or

A+B=C÷D=E

One element of this model that I tend not to write much about when discussing the ABCs is the matter of goals. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines a goal as the end state toward which a human or nonhuman animal is striving: the purpose of an activity or endeavor.

When practicing the ABC model with clients I assess for interests and goals. Whereas an interest is simply the state of wanting to learn about or do something, a goal is merely the end toward which effort is directed. Thus, in a post entitled ABC Model I included the following image:

One reason I usually choose not to insert goals into the ABC model when providing psychoeducational lessons on REBT via my blog is because doing so disrupts the alphabet. Personally, it’s a bit distracting and confusing to suggest: A, B, C, G, D, E.

All the same, some REBT practitioners, theorists, and researchers apparently see matters differently. For example, one prominent REBT researcher whose work I value recently stated:

Rational beliefs are flexible, logical, and non-extreme, and are conducive to long-term mental health and goal attainment. In contrast, irrational beliefs are rigid, illogical, extreme, and hinder long-term mental health and goal attainment (Dryden and Branch, 2008).

A core feature of REBT is the GABCDE(F) framework (Bernard, 2009; Ellis, 1994; Turner, 2022), which captures the major theoretical components of REBT and also portrays important practical features of REBT.

In brief, the framework is thus:

G – Goals and Values.

A – Adversity (or Activating Event).

B – Beliefs (Rational and Irrational).

C – Consequences of G – A x B that are cognitive, affective, and or behavioral.

D – Disputation (part of cognitive change).

E – Effective new beliefs (part of cognitive change).

F – Functional cognitions, emotions, and behaviors.

The theory and practice of REBT is effectively articulated through this GABCDE(F) framework. Clients are helped to recognize that when faced with an adversity (A) that is counter to their goals (G), it is their beliefs (B) about the adversity (A), rather than the adversity per se, that governs the functionality of their emotional, cognitive, and behavioral consequences (C).

If A is met with irrational beliefs, dysfunctional C’s prevail, while in contrast, if A is met with rational beliefs, functional C’s prevail. Irrational beliefs are disputed (D) following which new effective rational beliefs (E) are instantiated and reinforced, bringing about functional cognitions, emotions, and behaviors (F).

For the sake of illustration, let’s pretend that when reading about “GABCDE(F)” (Action) I maintained irrational Beliefs which were rigid, illogical, extreme, and that hindered long-term mental health and goal attainment. With these mental scripts, I became disgusted (Consequence).

For context, the APA defines disgust as a strong aversion, for example, to the taste, smell, or touch of something deemed revolting, or toward a person or behavior deemed morally repugnant. Of disgust about behavior, it’s one’s Beliefs about such Actions which causes this outcome.

I invite you to consider that from a psychological standpoint, people disturb themselves using a Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that in the context of the naturalistic or physical world there is no Action-Consequence (A-C) connection.

For instance, if I smell rotting meat (Action), I may instantly become disgusted (Consequence). Regarding this A-C connection, one source states:

The elicitation of disgust by the view of spoiled and rotten foods is considered as an adaptation preventing the ingestion of harmful microorganisms and pathogens. To provide an effective behavioral defense, inedible food items need to be detected automatically, i.e., in the absence of explicit processing goals, early in the processing stream, and triggering an alarm response, i.e., increased attentional capture.

Perhaps because people are conditioned to apply physical world interactions to psychological world perspectives, it isn’t uncommon for individuals to confuse A-C and B-C connections. Yet, automatic disgust when smelling rotting chicken isn’t the same as self-disturbed disgust.

Imagine that I read about “GABCDE(F)” (Action) and Believe, “REBT is pointless, if it keeps changing [G]. In fact, I can’t abide a misapplied alphabet [L]! It’s terrible that REBT researchers have apparently forgotten their ABCs [A], because they absolutely mustn’t do so [D]!”

Use of these GLAD narratives then results in my disgust regarding what I’ve read (Consequence). Unlike the A-C connection concerning rotting chicken and disgust, my unhelpful B-C connection pertaining to rigid attitudes and resulting disgust are how I would self-disturb.

Favorably, this is merely an imaginative illustration. Thus, when reading about “GABCDE(F),” I’m entirely unbothered. In fact, I find it somewhat humorous to consider that anyone would actually disturb oneself into a disgusted outcome in such a manner.

I suspect that you aren’t unfamiliar with B-C disgust. Perhaps after reading about the ABCs herein, you’ll be able to laugh at your unproductive beliefs rather than disgusting yourself (yes, I made it a verb—deal with it). This brings to mind a meme about which one source states:

“Really? Right In Front Of My X?” is a phrasal template and exploitable image macro meme using a character from comic artist Flork of Cows holding an object while disgusted that something had taken place in front of it.

It is similar in delivery and meaning to “Right In Front Of My Salad,” which is originally where the reference comes from, but is more versatile in having the item used be as silly as the thing it is reacting to.

Personally, it’s “silly” to rigidly hold beliefs about the ABCs and become “disgusted” by these views as the evolution of the ABC model unfolds. Rather than disgusting oneself in this way, perhaps it’s better to simply unconditionally accept that change is inevitable. Really? Really!

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

References:

Adam. (2018). Right in front of my salad? Know Your Meme. Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/right-in-front-of-my-salad

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2018, April 19). Disgust. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/disgust

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2018, April 19). Goal. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/goal

Becker, C. A., Flaisch, T., Renner, B., and Schupp, H. T. (2016, June 21). Neural correlates of the perception of spoiled food stimuli. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Retrieved from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4914587/

Bernard, M. E. (2009). Dispute irrational beliefs and teach rational beliefs: an interview with Albert Ellis. J. Ration. Emot. Cogn. Behav. Ther. 27, 66–76. doi: 10.1007/s10942-009-0089-x

Brandon. (2025). Really? Right in front of my X? Know Your Meme. Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/really-right-in-front-of-my-x

Dryden, W., and Branch, R. (2008). The fundamentals of rational emotive behaviour therapy: A training handbook. 2nd Edn. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Ellis, A. (1994). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy. 2nd Edn. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group.

Hollings, D. (2024, October 18). ABC model. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/abc-model

Hollings, D. (2024, July 9). Absolutistic should beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/absolutistic-should-beliefs

Hollings, D. (2025, October 19). Adhering to invisible scripts. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/adhering-to-invisible-scripts

Hollings, D. (2024, November 15). Assumptions. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/assumptions

Hollings, D. (2024, August 7). Awfulizing. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/awfulizing

Hollings, D. (2024, October 27). Correlation does not imply causation. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/correlation-does-not-imply-causation

Hollings, D. (2022, October 31). Demandingness. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/demandingness

Hollings, D. (2022, March 15). Disclaimer. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/disclaimer

Hollings, D. (2023, September 8). Fair use. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/fair-use

Hollings, D. (2024, May 17). Feeling better vs. getting better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/feeling-better-vs-getting-better-1

Hollings, D. (2025, March 5). Five major characteristics of four major irrational beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/five-major-characteristics-of-four-major-irrational-beliefs

Hollings, D. (2023, October 12). Get better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/get-better

Hollings, D. (2023, September 13). Global evaluations. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/global-evaluations

Hollings, D. (2024, April 13). Goals. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/goals

Hollings, D. (n.d.). Hollings Therapy, LLC [Official website]. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/

Hollings, D. (2025, October 23). I can’t stand it. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/i-can-t-stand-it

Hollings, D. (2024, January 2). Interests and goals. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/interests-and-goals

Hollings, D. (2023, September 19). Life coaching. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-coaching

Hollings, D. (2025, January 8). Life-downing. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-downing

Hollings, D. (2022, December 2). Low frustration tolerance. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/low-frustration-tolerance

Hollings, D. (2022, June 23). Meaningful purpose. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/meaningful-purpose

Hollings, D. (2025, November 16). Mental health, mental illness, and mental disorder. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/mental-health-mental-illness-and-mental-disorder

Hollings, D. (2023, October 2). Morals and ethics. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/morals-and-ethics

Hollings, D. (2024, September 27). My attitude. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/my-attitude

Hollings, D. (2025, August 2). My philosophy. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/my-philosophy

Hollings, D. (2024, June 2). Nonadaptive behavior. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/nonadaptive-behavior

Hollings, D. (2024, April 22). On disputing. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/on-disputing

Hollings, D. (2023, September 3). On feelings. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/on-feelings

Hollings, D. (2024, January 1). Psychoeducation. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychoeducation

Hollings, D. (2023, September 15). Psychotherapeutic modalities. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapeutic-modalities

Hollings, D. (2024, May 5). Psychotherapist. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapist

Hollings, D. (2022, March 24). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt

Hollings, D. (2025, August 13). Rational versus irrational thoughts and beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-versus-irrational-thoughts-and-beliefs

Hollings, D. (2024, January 1). Rational vs. irrational. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-vs-irrational

Hollings, D. (2024, March 14). REBT and emotions. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rebt-and-emotions

Hollings, D. (2024, July 18). REBT flexibility. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rebt-flexibility

Hollings, D. (2024, January 4). Rigid vs. rigorous. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rigid-vs-rigorous

Hollings, D. (2022, November 1). Self-disturbance. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/self-disturbance

Hollings, D. (2024, April 21). Sensation. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/sensation

Hollings, D. (2022, December 23). The A-C connection. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-a-c-connection

Hollings, D. (2025, December 21). The awful, very bad, horrible, terrible, no good, unacceptable elements of life. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-awful-very-bad-horrible-terrible-no-good-unacceptable-elements-of-life

Hollings, D. (2022, December 25). The B-C connection. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-b-c-connection

Hollings, D. (2025, October 22). The construct. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-construct

Hollings, D. (2022, November 2). The critical A. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-critical-a

Hollings, D. (2024, September 17). The E-C connection. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-e-c-connection

Hollings, D. (2022, November 2). The formula. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-formula

Hollings, D. (2023, July 4). Things change. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/things-change

Hollings, D. (2025, February 28). To try is my goal. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/to-try-is-my-goal

Hollings, D. (2025, January 9). Traditional ABC model. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/traditional-abc-model

Hollings, D. (2024, October 20). Unconditional acceptance redux. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/unconditional-acceptance-redux

Hollings, D. (2025, February 9). Value. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/value

Imgflip. (n.d.). Really? Right in front of my pancit? Meme generator [Image]. Retrieved from https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/423557286/Really-Right-in-front-of-my-pancit

Sakogawa, J. (n.d.). Blue baby blocks clipart , png download - Baby blue abc blocks, transparent png. Kind PNG. Retrieved from https://www.kindpng.com/imgv/ixJoJoJ_blue-baby-blocks-clipart-png-download-baby-blue/

StormClaymore. (2021). Flork of Cows. Know Your Meme. Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/flork-of-cows

Turner, M. J. (2025, June 2). Tales of rationality: the rational emotive behavioral monomyth as a metaphorical alignment of rational emotive behavior therapy and the Hero’s Journey narrative structure. Frontiers in Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1572636/full

Turner, M. J., and Henry, J. (2022). Dragon mind 1.0. Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University

Wikipedia. (n.d.). English alphabet. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_alphabet