Expanding the ABCs of RET

Abstract

The original ABCs of rational-emotive therapy (RET)—where A stands for the Activating events in people's lives, B for their Beliefs about these events, and C for the emotional and behavioral Consequences or Concomitants of their Beliefs—have proved very popular and therapeutically useful since RET was created in 1955. These ABCs have been expanded over the years by Ellis and other writers on RET. This article presents an up-to-date and more detailed expansion of the ABCs, with special emphasis on expanding the more common rational Beliefs (rBs) and irrational Beliefs (iBs)

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Ellis, A. Expanding the ABCs of RET. J Rational-Emot Cognitive-Behav Ther 2, 20–24 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02281207

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Keywords

  • Behavioral Consequence
  • Irrational Belief
  • Rational Belief
  • Detailed Expansion