Causes of Stress – The ABC Model
Albert Ellis’ ABC Model is really an easy way to understand the causes of stress. His model can be shown as follows:
OK, let’s put this model to a real-world situation. You’re waiting to check out at a supermarket. All the lines are long, so you guess which one will go the fastest. You soon notice that every other line is going faster except the one you’re in. That’s the Activating Event. Something you have noticed in your environment has the potential to cause a reaction from you.
Now, this situation alone doesn’t have any effect on you, positive or negative, until you couple the situation with your thoughts about the situation. Do you feel thankful you have some time alone with your thoughts? Or do you feel angry because your line isn’t moving and you feel your line should move the fastest?
Based on your previous experiences and beliefs, your mind acts on the event to form a consequence, or how you react to the event. It is not likely that you can remove every potential activating event from your life. If you are to reduce or eliminate stress in your life, you can really only work on changing your beliefs, the thoughts you have about the events.
Next Step:
Activating events are those events in your environment that cause you to get stressed.
Previous Step:
Once you know the causes of stress, you are better equipped to develop an action plan to address your stress.
Other Steps in this Section:
Your beliefs or thoughts can be a major contributor to your stress.
Activating events coupled with your beliefs end up with the consequences of stress.
Understanding Your Stressful Situations
Once you become aware of your present situation, you can then begin to understand your stress.
Possible Solutions to Your Stress
Solving your stress depends on what works for you.
Action – Strategies for Success
Take action in order to reduce or eliminate your stress.
Our Subconscious Stress – Fight or Flight
Our fight or flight response is nature’s own stress inducer.
