Dispute Your Negative Thoughts

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Alexander Dolin, One of Thousands of Christian Coaches on Noomii.

This is commonly known as the A-B-C-D Method. It is a popular model in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

The Acrostic looks like this:
A- Activating event
B- Belief
C- Consequence
D- Dispute your thought

You can use this trick to dispute depression, anxiety, disappointment or any other thought that you do not like. For many people this activity takes just a few minutes but for some situations, this activity be a longer process.

Begin practicing talking back to the negative thought that is bothering or hurting you.

A is the Activating event; what happened B is the Belief or the thought that you are having; that is, what you tell yourself about what is happening C is the Consequence of your thought; that is, the feeling you have as a result of your thought D is the way in which you Dispute or talk back to your thought (this means that you challenge negative thoughts and generate alternate positive thoughts)

Here is an example of this:

A. You are single. You were recently dumped by your significant other. (This is a fact.)
B. You think that you cannot be happy without a significant other.
C. The consequences of this thought is that you hopelessly romantic or desperately seeking another companion. The consequence could be slight depression or just a lot of anxiety over this area in your life.
D. Ways to dispute this thought:
“There are a lot of single people who are as happy as those who are in a relationship or married.”
“Singleness is a new chapter or season in my life, a time to enjoy the freedom and learn more things about myself and the people in my social circle.”
“Being single is unfortunate, but many human beings are single. Human
beings can lead satisfying lives even when single. I am a human being,
therefore I can lead a satisfying life even though I am single.”
“There are many other singles in the world. There is someone out there for me. I have had some success in relationships in the past, so I can have future success in my future relationships.”

This is just one example of how this model works. If you liked this activity, check out more activities and ideas at alexanderdolin.com