Originally Posted by
andyh 
A. Your employer falsely accuses you of taking money from her purse and threatens to fire you.
B. You believe, “I must not lose my job. That would be unbearable.”
C. You feel anxious.
The ABC model shows that A does not cause C. It is B that causes C. .. In the second example, it is not her accusation and threat that make you anxious; it is the belief that you must not lose your job, and that losing your job would be unbearable.
I guess we'd all agree that losing our job would be an unpleasant experience. But we don't have to take it a step further and let it colour how we see our entire life. REBT seems a good way to see any underlying beliefs we may be holding that would do this and so we can still enjoy other things in our lives even if we lose our job.
The logic above is similar to saying "I just gave a terrible presentation. Therefore I'm a bad presenter." Both make a judgement based on a particular experience and ignore any evidence that points the other way such as that you have previously given good presentations or that you have been out of a job before and got through it OK.
Saying "If I lost my job I will be anxious" is logically the same as saying "Either I will not lose my job or I will be anxious". It's black and white thinking which rules out the entirely reasonable possibility that you can lose your job, and although that would be unpleasant, you could still enjoy your family and friends and hobbies etc. We need grey thinking if there is such a thing
