UNDERSTANDING STRESS IS AS SIMPLE AS ABC

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          One of the best ways to understand stress is to look at a model of emotional distress elaborated by psychologist Albert Ellis. He calls his model the ABC model, and it’s as simple as it sounds:

                                      A → B → C where

  A is the Activating event or triggering situation. It’s the “stressor.”

 B is your Beliefs, thoughts, or perceptions about A.

C is the emotional, physical, and behavioral Consequence or “stress” that results from holding these beliefs.

   In other words,   A potentially stressful situation → your perceptions → your stress (or lack of stress).

   Real-life examples make this model more understandable. Following are two situations that may seem familiar.

          Consider one of the more common sources of stress in our lives: the fear of being late. You’re in a taxi headed for the airport, where you’ll board a plane for Philadelphia to interview for a job. Traffic is heavy, and you didn’t expect that. Your palms are sweaty, and your breathing is rapid and shallow. You’re feeling anxious. You are stressed out!       Using the ABC model of stress, the sequence looks something like this:

                                      A → B → C

Late for the plane → “I’m never going to make it, and I won’t get this job!” → Anxiety and panic with sweaty palms and rapid, shallow breathing.

          Or consider this scenario: You’re trying to get your two kids off to school in the morning. Your husband, who is normally terrific at helping, is on his way to Philadelphia for a job interview. He normally drops off the older child at school while you take your younger daughter to day care. You have a job, too, and today you’re expected to show up for an important 9 o’clock meeting. The plan was for the three of you to leave earlier than usual so you would have time to drop them both off. But this morning your daughter woke up crying and feeling sick. You’re caught off guard. You don’t have a plan B and certainly not a plan C. You have to scramble to figure out whom to call and what to do. You feel anxious and panicky. You’re more irritable. Your breathing is off. You’re feeling very stressed.

          With the ABC model, your stress looks something like this: Important meeting this morning and daughter is not feeling well → “OMG! What do I do? I can’t skip this meeting!” → Anxiety and panic

Copyright © Allen Elkin Phd – Originally appeared in Stress Management for Dummies 2^nd edition by Allen Elkin