Avy Joseph - Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

According to the ABC model we can have two types of beliefs – rational and irrational or healthy and unhealthy.

1 Healthy beliefs:Are flexibleAre based on the things that you want, like, desire and preferTend to make sense – they are logical and consistent with realityMeans accepting that sometimes you may not get what you wantDetach human worth from success or failureLead to emotional well‐being and set you up for goal achievement.

2 Unhealthy beliefs:Are unrealisticCan be self‐criticalAre not based on acceptance or acknowledgement of realityDo not acknowledge or accept other possibilities (even though reality shows that other possibilities exist)Cause a mismatch between internal and external realitiesLead to emotional disturbance and set you up for failure and goal sabotage.

Compare the following statements:

‘I would like it to be nice and sunny every day when I wake up but I accept there is a chance that it might not be.’

‘The day MUST be nice and sunny when I wake up’

The second example is unhealthy and irrational because it is unrealistic. Unhealthy beliefs do not make logical sense. What makes sense is to have a more healthy belief, such as ‘I would like the day to be nice and sunny when I wake up, but it doesn't mean that it HAS to be.’

It is easy to understand that if you hold a healthy belief about yourself or about certain things in your life, this would increase your chances of success. However, success is never guaranteed, so if you don't succeed you might feel upset and sad. Having healthy beliefs means that, while you might feel sad or upset if you failed you would lick your wounds, dust yourself off and focus back on your goal. Instead of feeling guilty you might feel regret and look at ways of improving. Instead of feeling unhealthy anger or rage, you might feel annoyed. You would behave assertively without lashing out in a destructive way or giving up. You would believe that you are not a failure as a human being but rather that you are a fallible human being who is able to learn and improve.

It is not difficult to understand that if you have unhealthy beliefs about yourself and about certain things in your life, your feelings and behaviours are not going to be healthy.

According to the ABC model, unhealthy beliefs provoke unhealthy negative emotions and self‐damaging or destructive behaviours. Depression, anxiety, guilt and rage are examples of unhealthy negative emotions.

ANXIETY VERSUS CONCERN

DEPRESSION VERSUS SADNESS

ANGER/RAGE VERSUS ANNOYANCE

HURT VERSUS SORROW

GUILT VERSUS REMORSE