Thoughts, Feelings, Behaviors, OH MY!

In one of our early posts, we explored the idea that systems are everywhere we look. Today, I want to take a look at one of the systems that exists within you. No, I’m not referring to the circulatory, digestive, or respiratory system. The system that I’m interested in sharing with you all today is the cognitive triangle.

This triangle is often used in conceptualizing cognitive behavioral therapy, but is also utilized by therapists who align with other modalities. Essentially, the Cognitive Triangle demonstrates the idea that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all interconnected. Additionally, the triangle shape helps us understand that the link among these three concepts is not strictly linear or hierarchical. While this can be frustrating at first look (SO WHERE DO I START???) the good news is that you can start making changes at any of the points of the triangle and see changes in the other points. Like any other system, all it takes is a shift in one part of the system to invite changes in the other parts of the system.

While this sounds simple enough, taking charge of and changing any one of these can potentially be a tall order! Especially if you’ve been operating on auto pilot and haven’t started teasing apart the borders of where your thoughts end and your feelings begin and how all of that influences your further behaviors. Or how your behaviors do not align with the thoughts you have or the feelings that are associated with both.

One way to start breaking this down and paying attention to where your thoughts , feelings, and behaviors start and end is to use Albert Ellis’s ABCDE model. Broken out this model looks as so:

A: Activating event—what happened that triggered a thought or a feeling?

B: Belief- What belief are we attributing to this? This can be rational or irrational.

C: Consequence- what happened as a result of this belief? How does this connect to the rational or irrational quality of the belief? Oftentimes rational beliefs lead to more positive consequences while irrational beliefs lead to more negative consequences. These consequences can also frequently present themselves as engaging in various behaviors.

D: Disputation-if an irrational belief leads to unhealthy consequences, this belief must be challenged, disputed, and replaced with a rational belief

E: New Effect- Once the irrational belief has been replaced with a rational belief, the effect is healthier consequences

This is only one way to start breaking this down keeping in mind the reciprocal relationships among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. If you find you’re struggling with this, as always, I encourage you to reach out to a therapist in your area.