Counter-thoughts

Once you've used the ABC method to figure out how negative thinking is affecting your mood, you can use “counter-thoughts” to change those negative thoughts and improve how you feel. Counter-thoughts challenge negative beliefs and help you look at the Activating Event in a more positive light. Because counter-thoughts are positive, they help improve your mood. In the example shown in the diagram above, if you replace your negative belief (“My day is ruined”) with a more positive response (“I can have a good day even if it's raining”) the consequence will change - that is, you may not feel down. You can improve your mood by changing the way that you think in response to “trigger” events.

Here's a second diagram to show how counter-thoughts can replace negative beliefs: