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13 CBT Worksheets for Anxiety to Use in Your Private Practice

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely used forms of therapy, and for good reason. Many mental health professionals use this therapy technique for a wide range of conditions, including different forms of anxiety . Having the right tools is an important part of providing effective treatment. In this post, we will highlight 13 CBT worksheets for anxiety that can help you deliver cognitive behavioral therapy more effectively to your clients:

Why CBT for Anxiety

According to the National Institute of Health ,

“Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective for a wide variety of mental health disorders, 1  including anxiety disorders. 2 – 6  CBT has also been associated with improvements in quality of life in anxiety patients. 7 CBT is typically conceptualized as a short-term, skills-focused treatment aimed at altering maladaptive emotional responses by changing the patient’s thoughts, behaviors, or both.”

CBT is one of the most widely used types of therapy for anxiety disorders with a goal of:

• Lowering a sufferer’s anxiety levels
• Calming the mind
• Overcome fears
• Teach ways to cope
• Change negative thinking patterns

The next sections will outline 13 different CBT worksheets for anxiety that you can use with your clients:

1. CBT Triangle Worksheet

Thinking negatively is a common human trait. We actively search for problems so that we can be prepared for them. However, This negative thinking typically does the opposite of helping us.

Our CBT Triangle Worksheet is designed to help your clients change negative patterns of thought.

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2. CBT Thought Record Worksheet

The purpose of a thought record is to get you into the habit of paying attention to your thoughts and working to change them. This CBT tool can help your clients recognize and change unhelpful thought patterns and help them get into a habit of paying attention to their thoughts while working to change them.

Our CBT Thought Record Worksheet is an effective tool to help your clients become aware of their negative thought patterns :

3. CBT Continuum Worksheet

The Continuum Technique is a tool used in CBT to help people challenge irrational beliefs about themselves or the world around them. This simple worksheet tool acts as a contrast to your clients potentially harmful beliefs that they may simply accept as truth or allow to remain unchallenged.

Our CBT Continuum Worksheet is an effective tool to challenge negative beliefs your clients have about themselves:

4. CBT Behavioral Experiment Worksheet

According to J Bennett-Levy , Behavioral experiments are collaborative endeavors in which therapists and patients work together to identify a potentially negative or harmful belief, then to either confirm or disprove it by designing an experiment that tests the belief. Like thought records, they are most often used in CBT.  Behavioral experiments are an information gathering exercise to test an individual’s beliefs or to test new beliefs.

Our worksheet can be very helpful to test your client’s beliefs (about themselves, others, and the world in general) and new beliefs.  This CBT Behavioral Experiment Worksheet will help test your client’s predictions about how you cope in challenging or stressful situations:

5. Cognitive Distortions Worksheet

People experiencing anxiety, depression , or other mental health conditions often have unhealthy thinking patterns. Everyone experiences negative thoughts, but when they become more frequent and stronger, they can create problems. According to VeryWellMind.com , “ Cognitive distortions are negative or irrational patterns of thinking. These negative thought patterns can play a role in diminishing your motivation, lowering your self-esteem , and contributing to problems like anxiety, depression, and substance use.”

Our Cognitive Distortions Worksheet can help your clients recognize irrational thought patterns that may be harming them:

6. CBT Problem Solving Worksheet

Problem solving is an important intervention whenever we are presented with difficulties problems, and repetitive thoughts or worry. Effective problem solving will help clients generate solutions when they are feeling “stuck.”

Our CBT Problem Solving Worksheet is a helpful tool to help your clients think through their problem and come up with effective solutions:

7. Challenging Negative Thoughts Worksheet

Negative thoughts or beliefs can pop into our head at any time. They can take hold and cause us long-term pain.

Our Challenging Negative Thoughts worksheet can teach your clients to challenge their negative thoughts and beliefs:

8. Cognitive Restructuring Worksheet

Also known as cognitive reframing, cognitive restructuring is a helpful process that allows your clients to identify and understand unhelpful thoughts they may be having and then challenge and replace their automatic thoughts (cognitive distortions).

Our Cognitive Restructuring Worksheet will help your clients challenge their irrational thoughts and replace them with more helpful thoughts:

9. Belief Driven Formulation Worksheet

CBT teaches that our behaviors, feelings, and thoughts are determined by what we believe and assume at our core. This Belief Driven Formulation worksheet will help you to explore what influences your behaviors, feelings, and thoughts.

Our Belief Driven Formulation Worksheet will help your clients explore what influences their anxious thoughts:

10. Decatastrophizing Worksheet

When we are struggling with anxious thoughts, it’s easy to think of the worst. Thinking the worst will happen is called catastrophizing. This behavior can cause us to act irrationally and make our situations worse than they are. This decatastrophizing worksheet will help your clients think differently about their situation.

Our Decatastrophizing Worksheet will help your clients think differently about the situation they’re in:

11. Socratic Questions Worksheet

Our thoughts come and go. Because our thoughts can control our emotions and the way we act, it’s important to challenge any thoughts that can cause us harm, such as those that increase anxiety. Socratic questioning is a technique for exploring ideas, emotions, and thoughts.

Our Socratic Questions Worksheet will help your clients explore their thoughts to help them reduce thoughts that cause anxiety:

12. Thinking Errors Worksheet

How we think and what we believe plays a major role in affecting our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. When a person has a pattern of negative thinking, it can skew how they see and understand a situation.

Our Thinking Errors Worksheet will help your clients practice balanced thoughts when presented with an example you create:

13. Mindfulness Worksheets Bundle

Practicing mindfulness is a powerful way to stay grounded in the present moment while lessoning negative feelings like anxiety and worry. For your clients, mindfulness can help regulate emotions and decrease, stress, anxiety, and depression.

Our Mindfulness Worksheets Bundle will help your clients lessen negative thoughts that can cause anxiety:

Conclusion on CBT Worksheets for Anxiety

CBT Worksheets are a great way to help your clients who struggle with anxious thoughts. Our CBT Worksheets for anxiety are built to help mental health professionals streamline their practices by allowing you to collect information from your clients in an organize, safe way.

Want all the above CBT worksheets plus more? Download our CBT Worksheets bundle:

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TherapyByPro is an online mental health directory that connects mental health pros with clients in need. If you’re a mental health professional, you can Join our community and add your practice listing here . We have assessments, practice forms, and worksheet templates mental health professionals can use to streamline their practice. View all of our mental health forms, worksheet, and assessments here .

Author: Anthony Bart

Anthony Bart is a huge mental health advocate. He has primarily positioned his marketing expertise to work with mental health professionals so that they can help as many patients as possible. He is currently the owner of BartX, TherapistX, and TherapyByPro.

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How to Design Homework in CBT That Will Engage Your Clients

Take-home assignments provide the opportunity to transfer different skills and lessons learned in the therapeutic context to situations in which problems arise.

These opportunities to translate learned principles into everyday practice are fundamental for ensuring that therapeutic interventions have their intended effects.

In this article, we’ll explore why homework is so essential to CBT interventions and show you how to design CBT homework using modern technologies that will keep your clients engaged and on track to achieving their therapeutic goals.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will provide you with a detailed insight into positive CBT and give you the tools to apply it in your therapy or coaching.

This Article Contains:

Why is homework important in cbt, how to deliver engaging cbt homework, using quenza for cbt: 3 homework examples, 3 assignment ideas & worksheets in quenza, a take-home message.

Many psychotherapists and researchers agree that homework is the chief process by which clients experience behavioral and cognitive improvements from CBT (Beutler et al., 2004; Kazantzis, Deane, & Ronan, 2000).

We can find explanations as to why CBT  homework is so crucial in both behaviorist and social learning/cognitive theories of psychology.

Behaviorist theory

Behaviorist models of psychology, such as classical and operant conditioning , would argue that CBT homework delivers therapeutic outcomes by helping clients to unlearn (or relearn) associations between stimuli and particular behavioral responses (Huppert, Roth Ledley, & Foa, 2006).

For instance, imagine a woman who reacts with severe fright upon hearing a car’s wheels skidding on the road because of her experience being in a car accident. This woman’s therapist might work with her to learn a new, more adaptive response to this stimulus, such as training her to apply new relaxation or breathing techniques in response to the sound of a skidding car.

Another example, drawn from the principles of operant conditioning theory (Staddon & Cerutti, 2003), would be a therapist’s invitation to a client to ‘test’ the utility of different behaviors as avenues for attaining reward or pleasure.

For instance, imagine a client who displays resistance to drawing on their support networks due to a false belief that they should handle everything independently. As homework, this client’s therapist might encourage them to ‘test’ what happens when they ask their partner to help them with a small task around the house.

In sum, CBT homework provides opportunities for clients to experiment with stimuli and responses and the utility of different behaviors in their everyday lives.

Social learning and cognitive theories

Scholars have also drawn on social learning and cognitive theories to understand how clients form expectations about the likely difficulty or discomfort involved in completing CBT homework assignments (Kazantzis & L’Abate, 2005).

A client’s expectations can be based on a range of factors, including past experience, modeling by others, present physiological and emotional states, and encouragement expressed by others (Bandura, 1989). This means it’s important for practitioners to design homework activities that clients perceive as having clear advantages by evidencing these benefits of CBT in advance.

For instance, imagine a client whose therapist tells them about another client’s myriad psychological improvements following their completion of a daily thought record . Identifying with this person, who is of similar age and presents similar psychological challenges, the focal client may subsequently exhibit an increased commitment to completing their own daily thought record as a consequence of vicarious modeling.

This is just one example of how social learning and cognitive theories may explain a client’s commitment to completing CBT homework.

Let’s now consider how we might apply these theoretical principles to design homework that is especially motivating for your clients.

In particular, we’ll be highlighting the advantages of using modern digital technologies to deliver engaging CBT homework.

Designing and delivering CBT homework in Quenza

Gone are the days of grainy printouts and crumpled paper tests.

Even before the global pandemic, new technologies have been making designing and assigning homework increasingly simple and intuitive.

In what follows, we will explore the applications of the blended care platform Quenza (pictured here) as a new and emerging way to engage your CBT clients.

Its users have noted the tool is a “game-changer” that allows practitioners to automate and scale their practice while encouraging full-fledged client engagement using the technologies already in their pocket.

To summarize its functions, Quenza serves as an all-in-one platform that allows psychology practitioners to design and administer a range of ‘activities’ relevant to their clients. Besides homework exercises, this can include self-paced psychoeducational work, assessments, and dynamic visual feedback in the form of charts.

Practitioners who sign onto the platform can enjoy the flexibility of either designing their own activities from scratch or drawing from an ever-growing library of preprogrammed activities commonly used by CBT practitioners worldwide.

Any activity drawn from the library is 100% customizable, allowing the practitioner to tailor it to clients’ specific needs and goals. Likewise, practitioners have complete flexibility to decide the sequencing and scheduling of activities by combining them into psychoeducational pathways that span several days, weeks, or even months.

Importantly, reviews of the platform show that users have seen a marked increase in client engagement since digitizing homework delivery using the platform. If we look to our aforementioned drivers of engagement with CBT homework, we might speculate several reasons why.

• Implicit awareness that others are completing the same or similar activities using the platform (and have benefitted from doing so) increases clients’ belief in the efficacy of homework.
• Practitioners and clients can track responses to sequences of activities and visually evidence progress and improvements using charts and reporting features.
• Using their own familiar devices to engage with homework increases clients’ self-belief that they can successfully complete assigned activities.
• Therapists can initiate message conversations with clients in the Quenza app to provide encouragement and positive reinforcement as needed.

The rest of this article will explore examples of engaging homework, assignments, and worksheets designed in Quenza that you might assign to your CBT clients.

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Let’s now look at three examples of predesigned homework activities available through Quenza’s Expansion Library.

Urge Surfing

Many of the problems CBT seeks to address involve changing associations between stimulus and response (Bouton, 1988). In this sense, stimuli in the environment can drive us to experience urges that we have learned to automatically act upon, even when doing so may be undesirable.

For example, a client may have developed the tendency to reach for a glass of wine or engage in risky behaviors, hoping to distract themselves from negative emotions following stressful events.

Using the Urge Surfing homework activity, you can help your clients unlearn this tendency to automatically act upon their urges. Instead, they will discover how to recognize their urges as mere physical sensations in their body that they can ‘ride out’ using a six-minute guided meditation, visual diagram, and reflection exercise.

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Moving From Cognitive Fusion to Defusion

Central to CBT is the understanding that how we choose to think stands to improve or worsen our present emotional states. When we get entangled with our negative thoughts about a situation, they can seem like the absolute truth and make coping and problem solving more challenging.

The Moving From Cognitive Fusion to Defusion homework activity invites your client to recognize when they experience a negative thought and explore it in a sequence of steps that help them gain psychological distance from the thought.

Finding Silver Linings

Many clients commencing CBT admit feeling confused or regretful about past events or struggle with self-criticism and blame. In these situations, the focus of CBT may be to work with the client to reappraise an event and have them look at themselves through a kinder lens.

The Finding Silver Linings homework activity is designed to help your clients find the bright side of an otherwise grim situation. It does so by helping the user to step into a positive mindset and reflect on things they feel positively about in their life. Consequently, the activity can help your client build newfound optimism and resilience .

As noted, when you’re preparing homework activities in Quenza, you are not limited to those in the platform’s library.

Instead, you can design your own or adapt existing assignments or worksheets to meet your clients’ needs.

You can also be strategic in how you sequence and schedule activities when combining them into psychoeducational pathways.

Next, we’ll look at three examples of how a practitioner might design or adapt assignments and worksheets in Quenza to help keep them engaged and progressing toward their therapy goals.

In doing so, we’ll look at Quenza’s applications for treating three common foci of treatment: anxiety, depression, and obsessions/compulsions.

When clients present with symptoms of generalized anxiety, panic, or other anxiety-related disorders, a range of useful CBT homework assignments can help.

These activities can include the practice of anxiety management techniques, such as deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and mindfulness training. They can also involve regular monitoring of anxiety levels, challenging automatic thoughts about arousal and panic, and modifying beliefs about the control they have over their symptoms (Leahy, 2005).

Practitioners looking to support these clients using homework might start by sending their clients one or two audio meditations via Quenza, such as the Body Scan Meditation or S.O.B.E.R. Stress Interruption Mediation . That way, the client will have tools on hand to help manage their anxiety in stressful situations.

As a focal assignment, the practitioner might also design and assign the client daily reflection exercises to be completed each evening. These can invite the client to reflect on their anxiety levels during the day by responding to a series of rating scales and open-ended response questions. Patterns in these responses can then be graphed, reviewed, and used to facilitate discussion during the client’s next in-person session.

As with anxiety, there is a range of practical CBT homework activities that aid in treating depression.

It should be noted that it is common for clients experiencing symptoms of depression to report concentration and memory deficits as reasons for not completing homework assignments (Garland & Scott, 2005). It is, therefore, essential to keep this in mind when designing engaging assignments.

CBT assignments targeted at the treatment of depressive symptoms typically center around breaking cycles of negative events, thinking, emotions, and behaviors, such as through the practice of reappraisal (Garland & Scott, 2005).

Examples of assignments that facilitate this may include thought diaries , reflections that prompt cognitive reappraisal, and meditations to create distance between the individual and their negative thoughts and emotions.

To this end, a practitioner looking to support their client might design a sequence of activities that invite clients to explore their negative cognitions once per day. This exploration can center on responses to negative feedback, faced challenges, or general low mood.

A good template to base this on is the Personal Coping Mantra worksheet in Quenza’s Expansion Library, which guides clients through the process of replacing automatic negative thoughts with more adaptive coping thoughts.

The practitioner can also schedule automatic push notification reminders to pop up on the client’s device if an activity in the sequence is not completed by a particular time each day. This function of Quenza may be particularly useful for supporting clients with concentration and memory deficits, helping keep them engaged with CBT homework.

Obsessions/compulsions

Homework assignments pertaining to the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder typically differ depending on the stage of the therapy.

In the early stages of therapy, practitioners assigning homework will often invite clients to self-monitor their experience of compulsions, rituals, or responses (Franklin, Huppert, & Roth Ledley, 2005).

This serves two purposes. First, the information gathered through self-monitoring, such as by completing a journal entry each time compulsive thoughts arise, will help the practitioner get clearer about the nature of the client’s problem.

Second, self-monitoring allows clients to become more aware of the thoughts that drive their ritualized responses, which is important if rituals have become mostly automatic for the client (Franklin et al., 2005).

Therefore, as a focal assignment, the practitioner might assign a digital worksheet via Quenza that helps the client explore phenomena throughout their day that prompt ritualized responses. The client might then rate the intensity of their arousal in these different situations on a series of Likert scales and enter the specific thoughts that arise following exposure to their fear.

The therapist can then invite the client to complete this worksheet each day for one week by assigning it as part of a pathway of activities. A good starting point for users of Quenza may be to adapt the platform’s pre-designed Stress Diary for this purpose.

At the end of the week, the therapist and client can then reflect on the client’s responses together and begin constructing an exposure hierarchy.

This leads us to the second type of assignment, which involves exposure and response prevention. In this phase, the client will begin exploring strategies to reduce the frequency with which they practice ritualized responses (Franklin et al., 2005).

To this end, practitioners may collaboratively set a goal with their client to take a ‘first step’ toward unlearning the ritualized response. This can then be built into a customized activity in Quenza that invites the client to complete a reflection.

For instance, a client who compulsively hoards may be invited to clear one box of old belongings from their bedroom and resist the temptation to engage in ritualized responses while doing so.

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Developing and administering engaging CBT homework that caters to your client’s specific needs or concerns is becoming so much easier with online apps.

Further, best practice is becoming more accessible to more practitioners thanks to the emergence of new digital technologies.

We hope this article has inspired you to consider how you might leverage the digital tools at your disposal to create better homework that your clients want to engage with.

Likewise, let us know if you’ve found success using any of the activities we’ve explored with your own clients – we’d love to hear from you.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. For more information, don’t forget to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free .

• Bandura, A. (1989). Human agency in social cognitive theory. American Psychologist , 44 (9), 1175–1184.
• Beutler, L. E., Malik, M., Alimohamed, S., Harwood, T. M., Talebi, H., Noble, S., & Wong, E. (2004). Therapist variables. In M. J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (5th ed.) (pp. 227–306). Wiley.
• Bouton, M. E. (1988). Context and ambiguity in the extinction of emotional learning: Implications for exposure therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy , 26 (2), 137–149.
• Franklin, M. E., Huppert, J. D., & Roth Ledley, D. (2005). Obsessions and compulsions. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 219–236). Routledge.
• Garland, A., & Scott, J. (2005). Depression. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 237–261). Routledge.
• Huppert, J. D., Roth Ledley, D., & Foa, E. B. (2006). The use of homework in behavior therapy for anxiety disorders. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration , 16 (2), 128–139.
• Kazantzis, N. (2005). Introduction and overview. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 1–6). Routledge.
• Kazantzis, N., Deane, F. P., & Ronan, K. R. (2000). Homework assignments in cognitive and behavioral therapy: A meta‐analysis. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice , 7 (2), 189–202.
• Kazantzis, N., & L’Abate, L. (2005). Theoretical foundations. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 9–34). Routledge.
• Leahy, R. L. (2005). Panic, agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 193–218). Routledge.
• Staddon, J. E., & Cerutti, D. T. (2003). Operant conditioning. Annual Review of Psychology , 54 (1), 115–144.

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Anxiety Self-Monitoring Record (Archived)

Anxiety - Self-Monitoring Record

Understanding Health Anxiety

Understanding Social Anxiety

Therapy Blueprint For Social Anxiety

[Free Guide] Living With Worry And Anxiety Amidst Global Uncertainty

Am I Experiencing Death Anxiety?

What Keeps Death Anxiety Going?

Information handouts.

Mastery Of Your Anxiety And Worry (Second Edition): Therapist Guide

Treatments that work™.

Mastery Of Your Anxiety And Worry (Second Edition): Workbook

Understanding Death Anxiety

Am I Experiencing Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

Am I Experiencing Health Anxiety?

Am I Experiencing Social Anxiety?

Mastery Of Your Anxiety And Panic (Fifth Edition): Workbook

Mastery Of Your Anxiety And Panic (Fifth Edition): Therapist Guide

Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Health Anxiety (Salkovskis, Warwick, Deale, 2003)

Fight Or Flight Response

Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD: Dugas, Gagnon, Ladouceur, Freeston, 1998)

What Is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

Health Anxiety - Self-Monitoring Record

Uncertainty Beliefs – Experiment Record

What Keeps Social Anxiety Going?

What Keeps Health Anxiety Going?

What Keeps Generalized Anxiety And Worry Going?

Health Anxiety Formulation

Your Stone Age Brain

Your Stone Age Brain (CYP)

Understanding Generalized Anxiety And Worry

Decatastrophizing

Social Anxiety Formulation

Health Anxiety Thought Record

Theory A / Theory B

Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Intolerance Of Uncertainty And Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms (Hebert, Dugas, 2019)

Health Anxiety Self-Monitoring Record (Archived)

Embracing Uncertainty

Fight or Flight (CYP)

CBT Appraisal Model

Responses To Threat: Freeze, Appease, Flight, Fight

Recognizing Social Anxiety Disorder

Recognizing Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Emotions Motivate Actions

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• Support key interventions, such as exposure and response prevention, safety planning with high-risk clients, and perspective-taking.
• Plan treatments and prepare for supervision.

Psychology Tools exercises have been developed with practicality and convenience in mind. Most exercises include simple step-by-step instructions so that clients can use them independently or with the support of their therapist or counselor. In addition, therapist guidance is available for each exercise, which includes a detailed description of the task, relevant background information, an overview of its aims and potential uses in therapy, and simple instructions for its delivery. A comprehensive list of references is also provided so that you can access key studies and further your understanding of each exercise’s applications in psychotherapy.

Did you know that 40 – 80% of medical information is immediately forgotten by patients (Kessels, 2003)? The same is probably true of therapy and counseling, so clients will almost always benefit from having access to additional written information.

Psychology Tools information handouts provide clear, concise, and reliable information, which will empower your clients to take an active role in their treatment. Learning about their mental health, helpful strategies and techniques, and other psychoeducation topics helps clients better understand and overcome their difficulties. Moreover, clients who understand the process and content of therapy are more likely to invest in the process and commit to making positive changes.

Psychology Tools information handouts can help your clients:

• Understand their difficulties and what keeps them going.
• Learn what therapy is and how it works.
• Understand what they are doing in therapy and why.
• Remember and build upon what has been discussed during sessions.
• Create a personalized collection of resources that can used between appointments.

Our illustrated information handouts cover a wide variety topics. Each has been informed by scientific evidence, best practice guidelines, and expert opinion, ensuring they are both credible and consistent with evidence-based therapies. Topics featured among these resources include:

• ‘ What is… ’ handouts. These one-page resources provide a concise summary of common mental health problems (e.g., anxiety , depression , low self-esteem ), key therapeutic approaches (such as cognitive behavioral therapy, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing , and compassion-focused therapy), and psychological mechanisms which maintain the problem (such as worry and rumination ).
• ‘ What keeps it going… ’ handouts. These handouts explain the key mechanisms that maintain difficulties such as burnout, panic disorder, PTSD, and perfectionism. You can use them to inform your case conceptualization or as a roadmap in therapy.
• ‘ Recognizing… ’ handouts. These guides can help you identify and assess specific disorders.
• Simple explanations of key psychological concepts, such as safety behaviors , psychological flexibility, thought suppression, and unhelpful thinking styles .
• Overviews of important psychological theories, such as operant conditioning and exposure.

Each information handout comes with guidance written specifically for therapists and counselors. It provides suggestions for introducing psychoeducation topics, facilitating helpful discussions related to the handout, and ensuring the content is relevant to your clients.

Worksheets are a core ingredient of many evidence-based therapies such as CBT. Our worksheets take many forms (e.g., diaries, diagrams, activity planners, records, and questionnaires) and can be used throughout the course of therapy.

How you incorporate worksheets into therapy or counselling depends on each client’s difficulties, goals, and stage of recovery. You can use them to:

• Assess and monitor clients’ difficulties.
• Inform treatment plans and guide decision-making.
• Teach clients new skills such as ‘self-monitoring’ or ‘thought challenging’.
• Ensure that clients apply their learning in the real world.
• Track their progress over time.
• Help clients to take an active role in their recovery.

Clients also benefit from using worksheets. These tools can help them:

• Become more aware of their difficulties.
• Identify when, how, and why these problems occur.
• Practice using new skills and techniques.
• Express and explore difficult feelings.
• Process difficult events.
• Consolidate and integrate insights from therapy.
• Support their self-reflection.
• Feel empowered and build self-efficacy.

Psychology Tools offers a wide variety of worksheets. They include general forms that are widely applicable, disorder-specific worksheets, and logs that are used in specific therapies such as CBT , schema therapy, and compassion-focused therapy . These resources are typically available in editable or fillable formats, so that they can be tailored to your client’s needs and used in a flexible manner.

Guides & self-help

People want clear guidance on mental health, whether for themselves or a loved one.

Our ‘ Understanding… ’ series is designed to introduce common mental health difficulties such as depression, PTSD, or social anxiety. Each of these guides uses a clear and accessible structure so that readers can understand them without any prior therapy knowledge. Topics addressed in each guide include:

• What the problem is.
• How it arises.
• Where it might come from.
• What keeps it going.
• How the problem can be treated.

Other guides address important topics such as trauma and dissociation, or the effects of perfectionism. They usually contain a mixture of psychoeducation, practical exercises and skills development. They promote knowledge, optimism, and positive action related to these difficulties, and have been informed by current research and evidence-based treatments, ensuring they are consistent with best practices.

Therapists can use Psychology Tools guides in several ways:

• As a screening tool. Clients can read the guide to see if the difficulty or topic is relevant to them.
• As psychoeducation. Each guide provides essential information related to the difficulty or topic so that client can develop a better understanding of it.
• As self-help. Each guide describes key skills and techniques that can be used to overcome the difficulty.

Each guide contains informative illustrations, practical examples, and simple instructions so that clients can easily relate to the content and apply it to their difficulties.

Therapy audio

Audio exercises are a particularly convenient and engaging way help your clients and can add variety to your therapeutic toolkit. Psychology Tools audio resources can help your clients:

• Augment and consolidate their learning in therapy.
• Practice new techniques.
• Integrate skills and practices into their daily lives.
• Access additional support when they need it.
• Create a sense a continuity between your meetings.

A variety of audio resources are available at Psychology Tools. Each one has been developed and recorded by highly experienced clinical psychologists and can be easily integrated into your therapeutic practice. Audio collections include:

• Psychology Tools for Developing Self-Compassion
• Psychology Tools for Relaxation
• Psychology Tools for Mindfulness
• Psychology Tools for Overcoming PTSD

Many of these audio resources are widely applicable (e.g., mindfulness-based tools), although problem-specific resources are also available (e.g., tools for overcoming PTSD). You can use these tools:

• During your therapy sessions.
• As a homework task for clients to complete.
• As a stand-alone intervention or ongoing part of therapy.

Authored by leading psychologists including David Barlow, Michelle Craske, and Edna Foa,  Treatments That Work™  is a series of workbooks based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Each pair of books in the series – therapist guide and workbook – contains step by step procedures for delivering evidence-based psychological interventions. Clinical illustrations and worksheets are provided throughout.

You can use these workbooks:

• To plan treatment for a range of specific difficulties including depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), social anxiety, and substance use.
• As a self-help intervention that you guide the client through during sessions.
• As a supplement to therapy, which clients work through independently.
• To consolidate the content of your sessions.
• As an ongoing intervention at the end of treatment (e.g., for difficulties that haven’t been fully addressed).

Each book is available to download chapter-by-chapter, and Psychology Tools members with a currently active subscription to our ‘Complete’ plan are licensed to share copies with their clients.

Archived resources

We work hard to keep all resources up to date, so we regularly review and update our library. However, we understand that you might get used to a certain version of a resource as part of your workflow. Instead of removing older versions, we keep some in our archive so that you can still access them if you want to. We also clearly explain if an improved version is available, so you can choose which you prefer.

Series and ranges

As well as many topic-specific resources, we also publish a variety of ranges and series.    

• The ‘What is…’ series. These one-page resources cover a range of common mental health problems. In client friendly language they provide a concise summary of the problem, what it can feel like, what maintains it and an overview of key evidence-based therapeutic approaches (e.g., CBT, EMDR, and compassion-focused therapy) to treatment.
• The ‘What keeps it going…’ series . These are one-page diagrams that explain what tends to maintain common mental health conditions such as burnout, panic disorder, PTSD, and perfectionism. You can use them to inform your case conceptualization or as a roadmap in therapy. They provide a quick and easy way for clients to understand why their disorder persists and how it might be interrupted.
• The ‘Recognizing…’ series can help you identify and assess specific disorders.
• The ‘Understanding…’ series is a collection of psychoeducation guides for common mental health conditions. Friendly and explanatory, they are comprehensive sources of information for your clients. Concepts are explained in an easily digestible way with plenty of case examples and diagrams. Each guide covers symptoms, treatments and some key maintenance factors .
• The ‘Guide to…’ resources give clients a deep dive into a condition or treatment approach. They cover a mixture of information, psychoeducation, practical exercises and skills development to help clients learn to manage their condition. Each of these guides offers psychoeducation about the topic alongside a range of practical exercises with clear instructions to help clients identify, monitor, and address their symptoms.
• The ‘ Self-monitoring’ collection provides problem-specific records designed to help you and your clients get the most from this essential but often overlooked technique. Covering a broad range of conditions, these worksheets allow you to give clients a tool that is targeted to their experience, with relevant language and prompts.

Multilingual library of translations

Did you know that Psychology Tools has the largest online, searchable library of multilingual therapy resources? We aim to make our resources accessible to everyone. With over 3500 resources across 70 languages, you can give clients resources in their native language, enabling a deeper understanding and engagement with the treatment process. Translations are carried out by specially selected professional translators with experience of psychology, and our pool of volunteer mental health professionals. We also make sure that the resource design is the same for each translated resource so that you can be confident you know what section you are looking at, even if you don’t speak the language.

Simply find the resource you want to use, then explore which languages that resource is available in, or you can see all the resources available in a particular language by using our search filters.  

What formats are the resources available in, and how can I use them?

People work in different ways. Our formats are designed to reflect that, so you can choose the style that suits how you and your client want to work. Psychology Tools resources are perfectly formatted to work whether you practice face to face, remotely, or use a blended approach.

• Professional version. Designed for clinicians, this comprehensive option includes everything you need to use the resource confidently. As well as the resource, each PDF contains useful information, including therapist guidance explaining how to use the resource most effectively, descriptions that provide theoretical context, instructions, therapist prompts, and references. Some resources also include case examples and annotations where appropriate.
• Client version.  This is a blank PDF of the resource, with client-friendly instructions where appropriate, but without the theoretical description. These are ideal for printing and using in-session, or giving to a client.
• Fillable PDFs are great for clients who want to work with resources online instead of on paper. Your client can fill in and save the resource on a computer, before sending it back to you without the need for a printer. This format is also useful if you have remote sessions with clients and want to work through a resource on screen together.
• Editable PowerPoint documents are useful if you want to make any changes to the resource structure, or personalize it for your client.
• Editable Word documents are also useful if you want to make changes to the resource, and are more suited to printing.

How do we design our resources to support your practice?

Our resources are informed by evidence-based treatments, best practice guidelines, and the latest published research. They are written by highly experienced therapists and experts in mental health, ensuring they are effective and as up to date as possible. In addition, every resource goes through a rigorous peer review process to confirm they are accurate and easy to use.

Each resource is designed with both clients’ and therapists’ needs in mind. For clients, that means using clear, user-friendly language, as well as plenty of visual and case examples, illustrations, diagrams and vignettes that readers can relate to. They include information on how the resource can help them, how they should use it, and other useful tips.

We also include useful information and descriptions for clinicians to help them use the resource most effectively. The therapist versions of each resource contain therapist guidance, prompts, instructions, and full references. They outline how the resource can be used and what types of problems it could be helpful for.

• Designed to make strong theory-practice links . We pay close attention to the theory underpinning our resources, which provides therapists with useful context and helps them make theory-practice links. Having a greater understanding of each tool ensures best practice.
• One concept per page. Wherever possible, we create resources using the principle of one therapeutic concept per page, as this ensures that we have distilled the idea down to its essence. This makes each tool simple for therapists to communicate and easy for clients to grasp. We also pay close attention to visual layout and design, to make our resources as accessible as possible. Every resource aims to maximize clinical benefit and engagement, without overwhelming readers.
• Action focused. Resources are designed to be interactive, collaborative and goal-focused, with prompts to facilitate self-monitoring of progress and goals.

How can I use this page?

This page is where you can explore all the resources in the Psychology Tools library. The different search filters on the left-hand side enable you to customize your search, depending on what you need. Materials are organized by resource type, problem, and therapy tool, though you can also filter by language or use the search box. You can find more detailed instructions for how to find resources here .  

Can I share resources directly with my clients?

If you have a paid Psychology Tools membership, you are licensed to share resources with clients in the course of your professional work. You can even email resources (even large audio collections) directly to your clients from our website. All emails are secure and encrypted, so it is a quick and easy way to save you time and facilitate clients’ self-practice.

What if I need more help?

We have a wide range of ‘ How-to’ guides and an FAQ in our help centre , which answers questions on how to use the library and tools, such as ‘ How do I download resources? ’ or ‘ How do I email resources to my clients directly from the website? ’.

Kessels, R. P. C. (2003). Patients’ memory for medical information . Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 96 , 219-222.

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Top 10 Practical CBT Exercises For Anxiety Relief (+FREE Worksheets PDF)

Today, you’re going to learn all about living with generalized anxiety disorder and how to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT exercises for anxiety relief.

Generalized anxiety disorder (or GAD) is characterized by  excessive, exaggerated anxiety and worry about almost everything for no particular reason .

People with symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder tend to engage in unhelpful thinking styles , such as catastrophizing and always expecting the worst.

This is where CBT comes into play.

The guiding principle behind Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is that our thoughts determine our feelings and behaviors. By gaining better control over your thoughts, you’ll be able to change your feelings and behavior.

What Is Anxiety?

Functional vs. dysfunctional anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder relief: cognitive-behavioral therapy cbt, free cbt worksheets for anxiety pdf, top 10 practical cbt exercises for anxiety relief, before you start, 1. regulating your automatic nervous system, 2. reframing your negative thoughts, 3. gradual exposure, bonus tip. natural remedies for generalized anxiety disorder.

Anxiety is the feeling of uneasiness a person feels about a certain person, place, object or situation. It can be experienced in the form of fear or worry.

It’s a common feeling everyone experiences at a certain point in his life. However, some people develop certain kinds of anxiety disorders that cause negative feelings, and extreme and irrational behavioral responses.

Related: Anxiety Free Resources

There are six major forms of anxiety disorders:

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
• Social Anxiety
• Specific phobias
• Panic Disorder
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Each of these forms of anxiety is triggered and addressed differently. ( * )

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the preferred psychosocial intervention for most of them.

Related: Anxiety Relief: How to Treat Anxious Symptoms and Thoughts Effectively?

Anxiety is a normal human emotion.

There are many times when it is perfectly natural that we feel anxious, such as giving a presentation at work, learning how to drive a car, talking to someone we’re attracted to, etc.

This kind of anxiety isn’t just normal, it’s also functional. Feeling anxious as the exams draw close can motivate you to study harder.

The question here is and when does anxiety stop serving its purpose and become a disorder?

Function anxiety is generally connected to a specific situation. For example, you may feel anxious about an upcoming exam, but once it’s over, the anxiety dissipates.

Dysfunctional anxiety, on the other hand:

* Is not connected to a specific trigger or situation

* Is not time limited.

* Can be much more intense than a typical anxiety response, and may even lead to a panic attack.

* Is interfering with your life in some way (e.g. your ability to perform at work, your ability to engage in social activities, etc.)

Living With Generalized Anxiety Disorder: What’s Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders.

The individual who has GAD, usually, sufferers from excessive worry about almost everything for no particular reason or cause – be it their health, family, friends, professional life, financial status. ( * )

How Do You Know You Have Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Some of the most common symptoms of GAD include:

• Excessive worry or tension,
• Restlessness,
• Sleeping difficulties,
• Mood swings,
• Concentrating difficulties, and

How Generalized Anxiety Disorder Affects Life?

People who suffer from GAD are constantly worried that something bad will happen, they see things from a negative point of view, and they expect the worst case scenario about almost everything.

This makes it difficult for someone to lead a happy and fulfilling life.

Anxiety medication for generalized anxiety disorder is not the only option.

CBT is one of the most popular kinds of therapy available to us right now. This is mostly due to its easy application and simple techniques.

It targets our negative ways of thinking which are distorting our attitudes towards ourselves and the world around us, and corrects them to help us become emotionally and mentally balanced.

Even though it won’t rid you of depression or cure your mental illness completely and permanently, it can do a lot to make it more manageable and improve your overall life quality. ( * )

1. Embrace change and the discomfort that comes with it

CBT is about creating positive change in your life through reframing your mindset. Sometimes change can be hard, uncomfortable and even painful but it’s a crucial part of healing. Trust in the process and keep in mind that sometimes, things get worse before they get better.

2. Set a deadline for yourself

Setting deadlines for your goals makes you more committed to getting better through CBT.

3. Allow yourself to be emotionally vulnerable

It can be scary to admit that you have a problem or even think about it. But unless you allow yourself to be emotionally vulnerable and completely honest, CBT won’t offer you much.

Take the time to ponder on what your problems are which of your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are dysfunctional.

Yoga help individuals who have GAD relieve their muscle tension.

Studies show that yoga helps lower a person’s stress and relax their muscles. Sign up for a yoga class or do it at home.

If you choose to do it at home, do it in the afternoon or at the end of the day to help you decompress. Play some relaxing music and breathe deeply. Choose which poses you want to perform and take your time through all the movements.

Most importantly, keep your mind clear and enjoy yourself.

#2. Breathing exercises

Breathing exercises is a good practice when you start to feel yourself getting anxious.

• Breathe as deep down into your belly as is comfortable.
• Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
• Some people find it helpful to count steadily from 1 to 5.
• Then, without holding your breath, breathe out gently, counting from 1 to 5 again.
• Keep doing this for 3 to 5 minutes.

Apps like Prana Breath , MindShift CBT , Breath Ball , and Health through Breath can help make breathing exercises easier.

#3. Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

This technique could be done along with deep breathing exercises to help you release the built-up tension within your muscles and help you relax. ( * )

* Choose a quiet room.

* Remove tight clothing or items that may cause you uneasiness.

* Sit in a comfortable position.

* Take deep, slow breaths.

* Pay attention to all your muscles. Start with your face muscles. Clench your muscles as you inhale and feel your face muscles as you exhale.

* Repeat twice before moving on to other areas like arms, shoulders, chest, stomach, back, legs, feet.

#4. Meditation for Anxiety

Meditation help individuals who have GAD stop over-thinking and emotional turmoil.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Choose some guided meditation videos from YouTube or an app .

2. Choose which time of the day is best for you, and do it on a regular basis, preferably every day.

3. Find a quiet place where you can be alone and away from distractions.

4. Devote all your attention to these mediations and forget about everything else going on in your life.

#5. Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation allows individuals to calm their minds while also focusing on the present moment.

This can be done by following these steps:

1. Sit in a comfortable position and breathe deeply.

2. Notice how your body feels as you breathe in and out. Pay attention to everything that is happening to your body in this moment.

3. Start redirecting your attention toward what’s happening around you (like the sounds around you or even the thoughts running through your mind) without assessing if it’s positive or negative.

This helps you remain calm while reflecting on your thoughts and understanding what’s going on inside your body.

#6. Positive Affirmations

Repeat positive affirmations in your mind. The following are some example:

• I am strong and powerful.
• I am growing stronger and healthier.
• I believe in myself. I can overcome this.
• This will pass and I’ll be okay again.

Shop: Mental Health Worksheets

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How Your Thinking May Be Contributing to Your Anxiety?

There is always a trigger for our emotions.

Most of the time, the situation itself is not the trigger. Rather it is the way we interpret or think about the situation that triggers our emotions.

#7. Become Aware of Your Anxious Thoughts

1. Stop for a moment, and mindfully, assess the current situation you’re faced with and describe it to yourself – how it make you feel and identify those feelings.

2. Become aware of your “negative automatic thoughts”. Go through a certain interaction and identify the first few thoughts that pop into your head. These are your “automatic thoughts”.

3. Write down your anxious thoughts for closer examination.

#8. Tackling Your Thoughts

Thoughts profoundly affect emotions and feelings in addition to behavior. By changing unhelpful, inaccurate thoughts, you can alleviate your anxiety and emotional distress.

Begin tackling these thoughts by doing to the following:

1. Search for evidence

Examine your thoughts objectively and go through the facts.

Use the following questions to search for evidence:

Have I had thoughts like these at other times in my life? Have my dire predictions come true?

1. Do I have experiences that would contradict my thoughts in any way?

2. What evidence do I have that what I believe is actually true?

3. Am I falling into a thinking trap (e.g., catastrophizing or all-or-nothing treatment)?

4. What would I tell a friend if he/she had the same thought?

5. Am I confusing a thought with a fact?

6. Am I basing my conclusion mostly on my feelings or on the true evidence?

While feelings are valid, they’re not evidence for supporting anxious thoughts. If, for example, you feel extremely anxious about doing a job interview, the anxiety is not evidence of how you will perform.

2. Rethink the risk

When you feel anxious, it’s easy to overestimate the odds of unwanted consequences actually occurring. Because disasters grab attention, we tend to focus on negative events, rather than positive ones.

That’s why you need to do a reality test and try to think about the real, objective odds of your predicted disaster.

Use the following questions to reassess the risk:

1. How many times have I predicted this outcome, and how many times has it actually happened?

2. How often does this happen to other people?

3. If a dear friend made this prediction, would I agree?

4. Am I assuming this will happen just because I’m feeling anxious, or is there a reasonable chance that it will really happen?

3. Imagine the worst-case scenarios

Even after searching for evidence and reassessing the risk, you might still believe that the events you fear might happen.

People who worry a lot, often, underestimate their own ability to cope and deal with consequences.

If you’re worried you might spill something at a party, consider the worst-case scenario.

Would people point and laugh at you? Not likely.

You might blush and feel embarrassed, but the party and your life would go on.

Some rude people may laugh, but most would forget the incident and certainly wouldn’t view you any differently.

Answering these questions will further help ease your worries:

1. Have I ever dealt with anything like this or worse in the past?

2. How much will this affect my life a year from now?

3. Do I know people who’ve dealt with something like this?

4. Do I know anyone I could turn to for help or support?

Related: How to Challenge and Change Your Negative Core Beliefs?

How Avoidance Intensifies Your Anxiety?

While escaping an anxiety-provoking situation can provide some relief in the short term, it also sends the message to your mind that you can’t tolerate the situation.

This will in turn intensify your anxiety and may cause you to avoid similar situations in the future. This limits your world as you have to avoid more and more situations.

Stop avoiding and start facing these situations. In other words, act opposite to the urge triggered by your anxiety.

#9. Make An Exposure List

Construct a list of exposure goals by doing the following:

1. Make a list of every single thing you’d have to do if you were to face your fear.

2. Arrange the items beginning with the least feared item at the bottom and ending with the most feared item on the top.

This constitutes your exposure hierarchy. If making this list is causing you some anxiety, remind yourself that you just need to think about facing the least feared item and that you don’t have to worry about the rest.

Besides, the goal is to actually want to invite anxiety into your life, and allow it to stay a while. As you face your fears may discover it’s not as terrifying as you thought.

#10. Face your fears

Start with the first item on your exposure list. Consider adding a few steps if the fear seems too difficult, such as looking at pictures of what you fear, imagining yourself in the feared situation, or talking about your fear with other people .

For example, if you fear flying, your list might look like this:

• Visiting an airport without flying
• Reading about airplane safety
• Talking to people about travel plans
• Going on a short flight with a friend
• Going on a longer flight by myself

When going through exposure process, consider the following:

* Don’t let lots of time go by without taking on another exposure item. Consider taking a step every day if you have the time and it feels okay to you.

* Stay with each step until your anxiety drops a little.

* Allow yourself to feel anxious, knowing that it’ll pass and that you need and want it. Don’t make a complete retreat unless you feel absolutely out of control.

* Try to avoid using crutches, such as alcohol, tranquilizers, distracting yourself with song lyrics, asking someone to reassure you, etc.

These might interfere with the effectiveness of exposure and prevent you from actually facing your fears.

Related: How to Defeat Social Anxiety and Build Confidence?

Natural supplements can be effective in alleviating anxiety.

1. Chamomile

Chamomile used in the form of tea, tablet, or extract can help relieve stress and anxiety.

A 2016 clinical trial  investigated the efficacy and safety of chamomile as a long-term treatment for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Results show that taking chamomile helped reduce the severity of anxiety symptoms.

Note: people who experience allergic reactions to plants like ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds, and daisies may also experience allergic reactions to chamomile.

Note: Chamomile may interact with certain drugs like warfarin and cyclosporine. If you are taking any type of medication check with your doctor before consuming chamomile teas or supplements.

2. Lavender

Lavender is often used to help calm the nerves and alleviate anxiety.

You can use lavender in the following ways:

• essential oil in aromatherapy
• mixing the essential oil into a base oil for massage
• adding the oil or flowers to baths

A 2017 review article suggests that chemicals in lavender called linalool and linalyl acetate can have a calming effect on chemical receptors in the brain and constitute an effective short-term treatment for anxiety disorders.

3. Passionflower

Passionflower is shown to be effective in treating restlessness, nervousness, and anxiety.

You can take passionflower in the form of:

• Tea. To make the infusion boil some water with 3 or 4 tablespoons of passion flower and let it simmer for 10 minutes. You can sweeten with a little honey.
• Extract. You can also directly take the liquid (approximately 45 drops of the extract) or, if you prefer, you can dilute it with a little water to lessen the taste.
• Tablets. You can take 1 or 2 times a day.

4. Kava kava

Kava kava, or simply kava, is a shrub that is native to the islands of the Pacific Ocean used to relieve stress and alter mood.

A 2013 placebo-controlled trial  investigated the efficacy of kava as a treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Participants taking kava showed a significant reduction in anxiety compared with those who received the placebo. The study also found kava to be safe.

The goal here is not to stop thinking anxious thoughts. We need to keep thinking and feeling.

But the goal is to believe less in your thoughts and realize that feeling a bit anxious doesn’t mean that something is wrong with you. The goal is to relate to thoughts and feelings, even the anxious ones, differently.

If you’re still struggling, try out these 10 Powerful Techniques To Control Your Negative Thoughts

Can Dehydration Cause Anxiety?

Yes, dehydration can cause anxiety.

When our body is dehydrated, it triggers a stress response that can result in feelings of anxiety or tension.

This happens because dehydration leads to a decrease in blood volume and blood pressure, which can activate the sympathetic nervous system responsible for the “fight or flight” response.

Additionally, dehydration affects the balance of electrolytes in our body, which can lead to increased anxiety levels and other symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and fatigue.

It is important to stay hydrated by drinking enough water to prevent such symptoms.

Is Anxiety Neurodivergent?

Anxiety is not necessarily considered a neurodivergent condition. Neurodivergent conditions are typically those that affect the way the brain works and processes information, such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and others.

Anxiety, on the other hand, is a natural response to stress and can affect anyone regardless of their neurology.

However, some neurodivergent individuals may be more prone to anxiety due to their specific challenges and experiences.

How Does Stress Contribute To Anxiety?

Stress can significantly contribute to the development and exacerbation of anxiety.

When individuals experience high levels of stress, their bodies release stress hormones such as cortisol, which activates the body’s “fight-or-flight” response.

While this response is adaptive in short-term situations, chronic stress can lead to prolonged activation of this response, causing disruptions in the body’s stress regulation systems.

Prolonged exposure to stress hormones can impair the functioning of the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for regulating emotions and decision-making.

This impairment can make individuals more susceptible to experiencing anxiety symptoms.

Additionally, chronic stress can impact the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in memory formation and regulation of emotions, leading to further anxiety-related difficulties.

Related: +20 Overgeneralization Examples & How to Avoid It

Is Anxiety A Lifelong Condition?

Anxiety is not always a lifelong condition, although some individuals may experience it chronically.

The duration and course of anxiety disorder can vary from person to person.

For some individuals, anxiety may be situational, triggered by specific events or periods of stress, and may resolve on its own or with appropriate treatment.

Others may experience recurrent episodes of anxiety throughout their lives.

It is important to remember that anxiety disorders are treatable, and many individuals find relief and learn effective coping strategies with therapy and/or medication.

Related:  How To Break The Cycle Of Performance Anxiety?

Are There Specific Triggers That Can Worsen Anxiety?

Yes, different triggers can exacerbate anxiety symptoms in individuals.

Triggers can vary depending on the type of anxiety disorder and the individual’s unique circumstances.

Common triggers include:

1. Stressful life events: Major life changes, conflicts, or traumatic experiences can intensify anxiety symptoms. 2. Social situations: Public speaking, social gatherings, or meeting new people can trigger social anxiety. 3. Health concerns: Physical health issues, chronic pain, or illness may increase anxiety levels. 4. Substance use: Certain substances like caffeine, alcohol, or drugs can worsen anxiety symptoms. 5. Time pressures: Excessive workloads, deadlines, or time constraints can contribute to higher anxiety levels. 6. Environmental factors: Loud noises, crowded spaces, or chaotic environments can trigger anxiety. 7. Certain phobias: Specific phobias, such as fear of flying or heights, can cause severe anxiety in relevant situations.

Identifying personal triggers and learning healthy coping strategies to manage anxiety in these situations can be helpful.

Related:  Impulsive vs Intrusive Thoughts (& How to Manage Them)

Can Anxiety Lead To Physical Health Problems?

Yes, prolonged and untreated anxiety can have adverse effects on physical health.

Anxiety activates the body’s stress response system, leading to increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and rapid breathing.

Over time, chronic anxiety can contribute to the development or worsening of various physical health problems, including:

1. Cardiovascular issues: Long-term anxiety can strain the cardiovascular system, increasing the risk of heart disease, hypertension, and heart attacks. 2. Gastrointestinal problems: Anxiety can disrupt digestion, leading to conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), stomach ulcers, or acid reflux. 3. Respiratory disorders: Frequent panic attacks or chronic anxiety may result in respiratory problems, such as asthma or shortness of breath. 4. Weakened immune system: Chronic anxiety can suppress the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to infections and illnesses. 5. Sleep disturbances: Anxiety often interferes with sleep patterns, leading to insomnia or inadequate rest, which can negatively impact overall health. 6. Muscle tension and pain: Anxiety-related muscle tension can contribute to chronic pain, headaches, or temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ).

It is crucial to address anxiety symptoms promptly to prevent potential physical health complications.

Related:  Future Tripping: Top 9 Ways to Avoid Future-Tripping

Is It Possible To Outgrow Anxiety?

While it is possible for some individuals to experience a decrease in anxiety symptoms over time, anxiety disorders do not simply vanish without intervention.

As children develop into adolescence and adulthood, they may acquire new coping mechanisms, skills, and tools that allow them to better manage their anxiety.

However, without proper treatment, anxiety symptoms may persist or resurface in different forms.

For some individuals, anxiety symptoms may subside as they enter less stress-inducing life stages or experience significant personal growth.

Moreover, with proper therapy or medication, individuals can learn effective strategies to manage their anxiety more successfully and lead fulfilling lives.

Related:  Best 10 Intrusive Thoughts Books

Portions of this article were adapted from the book Cognitive Behavioral Therapy : The 21 Day CBT Workbook for Overcoming Fear, Anxiety And Depression, © 2019 by Jacob Greene. All rights reserved.

Portions of this article were adapted from the book Overcoming Anxiety for Dummies, © 2002 by Charles H. Elliott and Laura L. Smith . All rights reserved.

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder Study | Center for Psychotherapy Research | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (upenn.edu)
• Generalized anxiety disorder: Study looks at heart-brain link (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder – StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)
• Worry and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Review and Theoretical Synthesis of Evidence on Nature, Etiology, Mechanisms, and Treatment – PMC (nih.gov)
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA
• Generalized anxiety disorder – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic
• Learn More About General Anxiety Disorder (webmd.com)
• NIMH » Generalized Anxiety Disorder: When Worry Gets Out of Control (nih.gov)
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Symptoms and More (healthline.com)
• Overview – Generalised anxiety disorder in adults – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) | Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Generalized anxiety disorder – Wikipedia
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) – HelpGuide.org

Hadiah is a counselor who is passionate about supporting individuals on their journey towards mental well-being. Hadiah not only writes insightful articles on various mental health topics but also creates engaging and practical mental health worksheets.

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Worksheets and Exercises

The following Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – CBT worksheets and exercises can be downloaded free of charge for use by individuals undertaking NHS therapy or by NHS practitioners providing CBT in primary or secondary care settings. These worksheets form part of the Think CBT Workbook, which can also be downloaded as a static PDF at the bottom of this page. Please share or link back to our page to help promote access to our free CBT resources. 

The Think CBT workbook and worksheets are also available as an interactive/dynamic document that can be completed using mobile devices, tablets and computers. The interactive version of the workbook can be purchased for single use only for £25. All Think CBT clients receive a free interactive/dynamic copy of the workbook and worksheets free of charge.

Whilst these worksheets can be used to support self-help or work with other therapists, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is best delivered with the support of a BABCP accredited CBT specialist. If you want to book an appointment with a professionally accredited CBT expert, call (01732) 808626, complete the simple contact form on the right side of this page or email [email protected]  

Please note: if you are a private business or practitioner and wish to use our resources, please email [email protected]  to purchase a registered copy. This material is protected by UK copyright law. Please respect copyright ownership.

Exercise 1 - Problem Statements

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Exercise 2 - Goals for Therapy

Exercise 3 - personal strengths / resources, exercise 4 - costs / benefits of change, exercise 5 - personal values, exercise 6 - the cbt junction model, exercise 7 - the cross-sectional cbt model, exercise 8 - the longitudinal assessment, exercise 9 - layers of cognition, exercise 10 - cognitive distortions, exercise 11 - theory a-b exercise, exercise 12 - the cbt thought record, exercise 13 - cognitive disputation "putting your thoughts on trial", exercise 14 - the cbt continuum, exercise 15 - the self-perception continuum, exercise 16 - the cbt responsibility pie chart, exercise 17 - noticing the thought, exercise 18 - four layers of abstraction, exercise 19 - semantic satiation, exercise 20 - the characterisation game, exercise 21 - speed up / slow down, exercise 22 - word translation, exercise 23 - the time-traveller's log, exercise 23a -the time-traveller's log continued, exercise 24 - leaves on a stream, exercise 25 - the traffic, exercise 26 - clouds in the sky, exercise 27 - taming the ape - an anchoring exercise, exercise 28 - the abc form in functional analysis, exercise 29 - pace activity exercise, exercise 30 - graded hierachy of anxiety provoking situations, exercise 31 - the behavioural experiment, exercise 32 - act exposures exercise, exercise 33 - worry - thinking time, exercise 34 - submissive, assertive & aggressive communication, exercise 35 - sleep hygiene factors, exercises 36 - 38.

(Abdominal Breathing, Aware Breathing & The Five-Minute Daily Recharge Practice)

Exercise 39 - Wheel of Emotions

Exercise 40 - linking feelings and appraisals, exercise 41 - personal resilience plan, exercise 42 - cbt learning log, act with choice exercise, angels and devils worksheet, transdiagnostic model of ocd worksheet, tuning in exercise, penguin-based therapy (pbt), big picture exercise, post-therapy journal, catch it-check it-change it exercise.

A brief cognitive change exercise for identifying and altering negative thinking

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Download The Think CBT Workbook Here

To get a free copy of the 90 page Think CBT Workbook and Skills Primer, click on the download button and save the PDF document to your personal drive or device. The free version of the Think CBT Workbook is presented as a static PDF, so that you can read the document on your device and print worksheets to complete by hand.

In return for a free copy of the workbook, please help us to promote best practice in CBT by sharing this page or linking back to your website or social media profile.

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• Psychology & Counseling Tools

9 CBT Worksheets and Tools for Anxiety and Depression

CBT is one of the most effective psychological treatments when it comes to managing anxiety and depression, and can be a highly useful approach to apply in online therapy.

If you help clients tackle cognitive distortions and unhelpful thinking styles, we’ve compiled a list of essential worksheets that should be part of your therapy toolbox.

How To Use CBT Worksheets in Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and behaviors are interlinked, and that changing negative thought patterns can enhance the way we act and feel.

It encompasses a variety of techniques and interventions that have been proven effective in the treatment of many mental disorders.

Besides anxiety and depression, a few examples include: [1]

• Panic disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Borderline personality disorder, and
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

With the advent of online therapy, guided online CBT has become an increasingly popular way for mental health professionals to help clients manage behavioral health conditions without the need to meet in person as often.

CBT worksheets, exercises, and activities play a large role in these treatments to encourage further progress between sessions, in the same way that face-to-face CBT involves between-session practice. [2]

The Importance of Tailoring CBT Worksheets to Individual Needs

While CBT worksheets are effective tools, it is crucial to tailor these resources to the unique needs of each client.

Every individual’s experience with anxiety and depression is different, and a one-size-fits-all approach may not be as effective. Personalization involves understanding the specific triggers, thought patterns, and behaviors of a client.

For instance, a client struggling with social anxiety may benefit more from worksheets focusing on exposure and social skills training, while someone with generalized anxiety disorder might need tools aimed at managing worry and improving relaxation techniques.

Customizing worksheets also means considering the client’s cultural background, personal preferences, and level of cognitive functioning.

This tailored approach not only enhances the therapeutic alliance but also ensures that the interventions are more impactful, leading to better outcomes.

Therapists should regularly review and adjust the worksheets to keep them relevant and aligned with the client’s progress and evolving needs.

5 Example Tools For Treating Anxiety

So what types of online CBT worksheets can be used to help clients cope better with symptoms of anxiety ?

There is a wide spectrum of therapeutic approaches that range from self-help activities to guided interventions, and all of them focus on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Here are a few of the best-known techniques that can be applied with the right tools.

Identifying cognitive distortions

Recognizing and identifying maladaptive automatic thoughts is a main goal of CBT.

Recognizing and identifying maladaptive automatic thoughts is a main goal of CBT. Cognitive distortions describe inaccurate or exaggerated perceptions, beliefs, and thoughts that can contribute to or increase anxiety, so increasing a client’s awareness of these is the first step to unraveling them and feeling better.

Quenza’s  Unhelpful Thinking Styles – “Shoulding” and “Musting” worksheet, shown below, is an example exercise that can help clients recognize the damaging impacts of using “should” and “must” statements to place unreasonable demands or unnecessary pressure on themselves.

Cognitive restructuring

Cognitive restructuring involves disputing the distortions that underpin a client’s challenges. Various techniques that can be helpful here include Socratic questioning, decatastrophizing, and disputing troublesome thoughts with facts.

One example CBT exercise is the Cognitive Restructuring Expansion shown below, which can help clients identify automatic thoughts and substitute them with more fair, rational ways of thinking.

Journaling and thought records

Journaling is a form of self-monitoring that helps clients identify their thought patterns and emotional tendencies, as shown by the Stress Diary Expansion below.

Journals can involve logging negative thoughts or feelings as homework, with the aim of positioning clients to manage them successfully.

Stress Reduction Techniques

Stress reduction exercises such as deep breathing, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation can all be effective CBT tools for managing anxiety.

The example below is Quenza’s Progressive Muscle Relaxation exercise, which clients can practice to increase their sense of control and calm when stressed or anxious.

Breathing Exercises

Diaphragmatic breathing is another useful relaxation exercise often used in CBT for anxiety.

With this mindfulness practice, clients learn to regulate their breath and activate their body’s relaxation response, as shown in Quenza’s audio  Diaphragmatic Breathing  exercise below.

CBT Worksheets for Depression (PDF)

CBT worksheets are useful resources for therapists helping clients manage depression, because they can be used to encourage your clients’ progress between sessions.

If you are a mental health professional, the following worksheets can be shared as homework. Each is available as a customizable Quenza Expansion for easy sharing with clients with a $1, 30-day Quenza trial .

The ABC Model of Helpful Behavior

ABC is an acronym for Antecedents, Behavior, and Consequences, and the ABC model proposes that behavior can be learned and unlearned based on association, reward, and punishment.

This CBT worksheet allows clients to reflect on adaptive behavior, thus building their awareness of the triggers for and consequences of this behavior.

After introducing the ABC Model of Behavior and the ABC Model of Helpful Behavior, the exercise asks clients to try it out themselves by:

• Describing a recent personal problem
• Recalling a helpful behavior that they carried out that contributed to the problem in a positive way.
• Recalling the Antecedents of the helpful Behavior – where they were, who they were with, and what they were doing, thinking, and feeling
• Considering the short- and long-term Consequences of that behavior – how they felt, what happened, and what others said or did.

Unhelpful Thinking Styles – Emotional Reasoning

This worksheet invites clients to identify and decrease the negative impact of a specific cognitive bias known as “Emotional Reasoning,” which can be common in clients with depression.

As an introduction, clients learn about the negative impacts of regarding emotions as evidence of the truth, or basing one’s view of situations, yourself, or others on how they feel at a certain moment.

They are then invited to reflect on a time when they used emotional reasoning and describe the situation as well as their thoughts and emotions at the time.

Through self-reflection, this therapy exercise aims to help the user separate their feelings from their thoughts so that they can reduce the negative effect of emotional reasoning on their wellbeing.

De-Catastrophizing

As we’ve seen, patients with symptoms of depression often experience negative thoughts that result from faulty thinking rather than accurate experiences of reality.

Catastrophizing is amplifying the importance of adverse events and situations while minimizing their positive aspects or outcomes. The Decatastrophizing Expansion can be an impactful cognitive restructuring technique to help with this cognitive distortion when it is practiced over time.

Clients are asked to describe the situation that they are currently catastrophizing about before answering a series of questions to challenge their thinking:

• What is the worst that can happen?
• What three events would have to take place for the worst to happen?
• How likely is it that  all three  of these events will take place?
• What is a more likely outcome, given what you know about the situation?

Here’s an example of the PDF copy that you or your clients can download of these exercises:  Decatastrophizing CBT worksheet

To customize these CBT worksheets for depression and browse more, take a look at the $1, 30-day Quenza trial .

Can CBT Help Build Self Esteem?

Studies have shown CBT to be useful in developing a client’s self-esteem so that they start to perceive themselves as more worthy and deserving. [3]

Cognitive restructuring is particularly can equip them with the skills to challenge or refute negative self-talk. This involves:

• Helping clients explore repetitive negative self-talk can be damaging to their sense of self-worth
• Challenging harmful cognitive distortions
• Supporting in the development of a more balanced, positive self-perspective.

Quenza’s Challenging Unhelpful Thoughts , pictured above, is an example CBT worksheet for self-esteem with the following prompts and questions:

• Describe a negative thought that keeps coming back.
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how strongly do you believe this thought to be true?
• What evidence supports this thought?
• What evidence do you have against the thought?
• What would you tell a friend (to help them) who would have the same thought?

Integrating Technology with CBT Worksheets for Enhanced Engagement

The advent of technology has significantly transformed the landscape of psychological treatments, including CBT.

Digital tools and applications can greatly enhance the engagement and effectiveness of CBT worksheets.

Interactive platforms allow clients to complete worksheets on their devices, providing instant feedback and progress tracking.

Additionally, gamification elements, such as rewards for completing tasks or interactive scenarios, can make the therapy process more engaging and motivating for clients.

Teletherapy platforms can integrate these digital worksheets, allowing therapists to monitor their clients’ progress in real time and make adjustments as needed.

Moreover, digital tools often include additional resources like videos, guided meditations, and forums for peer support, which can complement the worksheets and provide a more holistic approach to treatment.

By leveraging technology, therapists can ensure that CBT remains a dynamic and accessible option for clients, regardless of their location or schedule.

CBT Toolbox for Online Therapists

Once you’ve found the most useful tools for your programs and are ready to start treating clients, it’s time to organize them for easy, convenient delivery.

Without a centralized library of digital materials – and the ability to quickly personalize and share them – it’s easy to spend more time than is necessary on the admin side of helping others.

With the right CBT app , you should have an entire toolbox of CBT worksheets plus the tools you need to deliver them:

• Activity design tools: for efficiently creating online CBT interventions
• Customizable templates: e.g., Quenza Expansions that include personalizable science-based exercises and activities
• Documentation tools: e.g., Quenza Notes – A secure, convenient way to create and store session notes and collaborate with clients
• Pathway builder tools: which help you assemble separate worksheets and tools into programs and mental health treatment plans
• Real-time results tracking:  to securely collect and store client responses and results
• A free client app:  so that clients can easily receive, complete, and return your CBT resources and assemble a library of their finished activities.

Whether you’re new to the world of online therapy or coaching or simply looking to increase your impact, our free 30-page guide is a great place to start.

This PDF will give you an easy-to-understand introduction to the essentials of digital practice: how to create and share your own CBT interventions, keep clients engaged in their treatment, and improve your clients’ results while growing and scaling your business.

Click here to download your copy of  Coach, This Changes Everything .

Final Thoughts

Practicing CBT online for the first time may take some adapting, but the ability to help more clients with less work is always worth the payoff.

Hopefully, these worksheets and resources give you a solid starting point for building your CBT toolkit. Let your fellow practitioners know how you use them – leave a comment and join in the conversation below!

• ^ NHS. (2022). Overview - Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Retrieved from https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt/overview/
• ^ Harvard Health Publishing. (2015). Online cognitive-behavioral therapy: The latest trend in mental health care. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/online-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-the-latest-trend-in-mental-health-care-201511048551
• ^ McKay, M., & Fanning, P. (2016). Self-esteem. New Harbinger.

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The Counseling Palette

• Sep 15, 2021
• 10 min read

10 Top CBT Worksheets for Learning Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Updated: Sep 28, 2023

These worksheets cover the most important skills from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

The magic of CBT worksheets is that they take vague concepts and make them real.

Ironically, you need to do more than think about CBT -- your skills must be put into practice!

CBT worksheets help teach and reinforce skills learned in therapy. They are often used by therapists specialized in cognitive behavioral therapy and related treatments.

Below are the 10 top CBT worksheets focused on dealing with anxiety, restructuring thoughts, and addressing trauma and fears.

They can help treat issues like anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, depression, and more.

Need resources right away? Skip ahead to here take a look at the CBT for anxiety and PTSD bundle.

Article Contents:

1. cbt triangle worksheet.

2. Challenging Thoughts Worksheets

3. Anxiety Management Worksheet

4. Strong Emotions Worksheet

5. Trauma-Focused CBT Worksheet

6. Exposure Hierarchy

7. Trauma Narrative

9 . Emotions Wheel Worksheet

10. Mindfulness Worksheet

CBT worksheets and tools are typically very structured, and follow the cognitive behavioral therapy approach. The basic idea of CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy , is that patterns of thinking impact everything else. How we think about things can make life better or worse, regardless of the circumstances.

Our thoughts influence our feelings, which lead to our behaviors. The printable worksheets below start with the basic approach and expand into specialized areas, such as using CBT to treat PTSD.

Here are 10 top CBT worksheets focused on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

The CBT triangle is a commonly used tool to describe the basic principles of this therapy. This worksheet walks you step by step through the most basic process of CBT. It includes examples as well as space to write your own thoughts and begin to challenge them.

The cognitive (CBT) triangle came out of the early work of Aaron Beck, who developed CBT. He noticed that many people in therapy continued to suffer from mental health conditions such as depression, even as therapy progressed.

He termed the phrase “automatic thoughts,” to describe the thinking pattern many people experience. Most significantly, Dr. Beck found that how people thought about a situation resulted in how they experienced it, regardless of the situation itself.

Most significantly, Dr. Beck found that how people thought about a situation resulted in how they experienced it, regardless of the situation itself.

For example, someone may be running late for work. If they begin to think about getting fired and all of the things that would result from that, they might feel panicked or frustrated, and start driving erratically.

Alternatively, the same person may think differently, coaching themselves in a positive way. They may think, “I rarely run late, and my boss is very understanding, so it will be okay.”

With this change in thinking, they are likely to think more clearly and avoid feeling anxious. They may then calmly text their boss and drive carefully but efficiently toward work.

This process demonstrates the event (running late), the thought (catastrophizing versus positive self-talk) and the behavior (erratic driving versus planning).

Shop CBT triangle worksheet.

2. Challenging Thoughts Worksheet

The challenging thoughts worksheet is a cognitive restructuring worksheet. It walks you through challenging everyday negative thoughts, at a bit of a deeper level than the CBT triangle. It can also be an alternative format to learning the triangle.

Negative thoughts are sometimes called core beliefs, Negative core beliefs are thoughts that tend to pervade our everyday lives. They’re the “issues,” or “triggers,” you just can’t seem to get over. While most negative core beliefs are also distorted beliefs, the reverse isn’t necessarily true.

Negative core beliefs tend to involve shame, and how the person feels about themselves as a whole. This often relates to their abilities and worthiness.

For example, a basic distorted belief might be, “I’ll never pass my algebra class,” while a negative core belief might state, “I’m too stupid to succeed at anything.”

Once you understand the basics of CBT, the next step is to begin to challenge specific thoughts that happen regularly. For example, someone may think, “I mess everything up,” or “I can’t keep any friends.” These thoughts become a habit, and are likely to affect self-esteem, and even become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because someone thinks they can’t keep friends, they stop trying to make them.

This worksheet keeps these thought patterns in mind, and help the user begin to challenge these beliefs. Terms often used include “stuck points,” “cognitive distortions,” or “negative thoughts.”

Shop challenging thoughts worksheet.

While there are multiple types of anxiety conditions, all of them relate to our thoughts. Meanwhile, many CBT therapists start with anxiety management skills. These include steps like mindfulness or self-soothing.

This anxiety management worksheet includes multiple ideas to deal with anxiety, as well as a page to outline your plan for future anxiety spells.

Ongoing anxiety is usually caused by thinking patterns. Ruminating thoughts, catastrophizing, and assuming the worst are common symptoms of multiple conditions. These thought patterns, combined with the hypervigilance that come along with them, can make it difficult to cope day to day.

These anxious thoughts are common, and likely originate from the human need to prepare for the worst and avoid danger. After all, if our ancestors hadn’t been a bit paranoid we may not be here today.

However, frequently thinking negatively can lead to overwhelming anxiety and nearly constant feelings of anxiety. Anxiety worksheets can help with coping while also addressing the root thoughts that perpetuate these fears.

Shop anxiety management worksheet.

4. Dealing With Strong Emotions Worksheet

Strong feelings can be overwhelming. This guide takes a look at how to rate, ride out, or cope with difficult emotions.

For example, if your emotion is simply uncomfortable, it's usually best to wait it out and allow the feeling to move through you. Otherwise it's likely to just keep coming back.

If a feeling is more significant and seems to interfere with your daily life, it may be best to work with a therapist on processing the emotion. Sometimes it's good to face the feeling head on, which will allow your body to learn the difference between the worry about danger and actual danger.

For example, worrying about danger might be thinking about a dog attacking you. It could cause your nervous system to become really alarmed, not realizing that there's no dog in sight.

By staying with that fear, your body will have the experience of getting to the other side and start to figure out that the fear is a feeling and not an event.

In other cases, if you have a history or pattern of self-harm, it's best to work closely with a therapist so you can fine-tune your plan. In some cases you may want to face your emotions while in other cases you may need some soothing to get through the moment.

This CBT worksheet on dealing with strong emotions is a great resource for therapists and their clients to work on feelings together.

Shop strong emotions worksheet.

This worksheet is created for trauma focused CBT Therapies. It includes the most common steps used in therapies like TF-CBT (trauma-focused CBT) and CPT (cognitive processing therapy).

Many people think of PTSD as simply a result of trauma. While trauma is at the core of it, it goes beyond that. The majority of people experience trauma at some point. At first, it causes feelings of worry, confusion, and sometimes self-blame for what happened.

However, within a few weeks to a month, most people come to terms with what happened. They understand that the trauma was an isolated event, and that there wasn’t anything they could do to change it.

A percentage of people, however, aren’t able to get through this process. This could be due to still being in danger, to past trauma complicating their ability to process, or simply having too much going on to deal with it initially.

This lack of processing leads to “stuck points,” or cognitive distortions relating to the trauma. They typically run along the lines of people blaming themselves, or feeling they can’t deal with difficulties in the world.

The most effective trauma therapies all deal with processing of the traumatic event, and this worksheet walks through the typical steps.

Shop the trauma thoughts worksheet.

6. Exposure Hierarchy Worksheet

Many people develop avoidance as a way to deal with anxiety, phobias, and PTSD. An exposure hierarchy helps people measure which fears are the worst, and how they progress over time.

This worksheet includes a simple but effective way to create an exposure hierarchy, as well as homework sheets to record your exposure activities.

Exposure, or fear, hierarchies are commonly used in CBT, CPT, and TF-CBT therapies.

Fears are sometimes measured by numbers, called SUDS (subjective units of distress). Over time the fear is tracked, to see if it becomes better or worse.

Most often, exposure hierarchies are used along with homework assignments to help people face their fears. This exposure helps them overcome avoidance that may be interfering with their daily life.

The avoidance hierarchy worksheet includes the basic steps to get started.

Shop the exposure hierarchy worksheet.

The trauma narrative is a technique commonly used in therapies like cognitive processing therapy (CPT), or trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). This worksheet is written with the client in mind, and should generally be used under the direction of a trained therapist.

A trauma narrative is sometimes used as a part of cognitive behavioral PTSD therapies. It involves writing about memories of a difficult situation.

When someone is experiencing PTSD, it's because their brain is confusing the memory of a bad event with the actual event. Your brain continues to think about what happened, and it keeps your brain on high alert, creating a cycle.

One of the ways to interrupt that process is to write about the difficult memories so that you can integrate them into your life, rather than continue to re-experience them. As mentioned, it's recommended that you work through a trauma narrative as part of trauma-focused CBT therapy.

Shop the trauma narrative worksheet.

8. Kids Anger Worksheet

One of the most common struggle kids deal with are angry outbursts . This is because they haven't had the time to understand and learn how to cope with strong emotions.

Although it doesn't say it outright, this set of kids anger worksheets address the CBT triangle. It uses the anger iceberg as a way to illustrate feelings underlying anger.

It actually is a set of three worksheets covering identifying emotions, recognizing harmful behaviors, and creating more positive behaviors. The worksheets are kid-friendly and work well with TF-CBT therapy for kids.

Shop the kids anger worksheets.

9. Emotions Wheel Worksheet

Emotions are a sometimes overlooked part of CBT treatment. Sometimes people think they should or shouldn't be having certain feelings . They might also be unsure of what they're feeling and when.

However, feelings worksheets help with recognizing, regulating, and coping with emotions. This makes it easier to move into the next step of recognizing how thoughts can relate to ongoing emotional struggles.

Common difficult emotions relating to anxiety, depression, or trauma include:

Frustration

Disappointment

The emotions wheel set includes multiple handouts and worksheets based on feelings wheels. It covers both comfortable and uncomfortable emotions like those above. It also has sections that recognize the physical sensations of emotions, and sections to create your own emotional coping wheel.

Shop the emotions wheel worksheets.

10. Mindfulness for CBT Worksheet

New waves of cognitive therapies, including CBT, incorporate mindfulness. It's an important part of the regulating step, and helps you soothe the flight-or fight response.

It can also make it easier to move onto the next steps of recognizing thoughts and emotions. When your brain is in survival mode it can be difficult to work through challenging thoughts or exposure techniques.

Mindfulness takes it down a notch, much like medication would. It also is a great skill in and of itself, and can prevent mental health, and even some physical conditions, down the road.

Shop the mindfulness worksheet.

CBT Therapy Worksheet Bundle

Over the years, I've found that many of the same strategies overlap for conditions like anxiety and PTSD. At the same time, there are some additional steps necessary when processing trauma. I've bundled all of my related pages into this set .

More CBT Resources

In addition to worksheets, CBT-based games can be a great way to teach important concepts. Here's a list of some of our other activities. You can find them all together in our Giant Store Bundle .

CBT Coping Jeopardy-Like Game

If you're looking for a fun, interactive game for classrooms or telehealth, check this out! It covers many of the CBT concepts in the worksheets. It's a great way to reinforce all of the concepts you're learning. Learn more.

CBT Lingo (Bingo-Like Game)

CBT Lingo is a fun, interactive, educational game that helps you teach concepts of CBT. It goes beyond the typical "novelty" cards often created for therapy and other classroom games. The game is compatible with real bingo, so you can actually "call" the game with numbers, either in-person or via telehealth.

CBT Lingo, which works similar to bingo, includes 75 prompts focused on topics like thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and skills used in cognitive behavioral therapy. It has various options, so it works with teens, college students, and adults.

It can even help with teaching CBT concepts to therapy students.

Here are some sample prompts included in the game:

What does all or nothing thinking mean?

What's one physical symptom of anxiety?

What are the three points of the CBT triangle?

What is ruminating?

Want to give it a go? You can download and use it in-person or via telehealth. Get more details here.

CBT Quest Board Game

CBT board games are another less intimidating way to teach skills. This downloadable board game , called CBT quest, can be printed and used in person, or adapted for online use. It includes 32 prompts with reusable questions, such as:

Give an example of a challenging thought

Describe or show a grounding technique

Describe or name a cognitive distortion

Interested in trying this fun activity? Download it here.

Finding Peace from PTSD Book

If you're working specifically with PTSD, this book is helpful. It lays out the most common strategies used in trauma-focused CBT therapies. Such therapies include:

Prolonged Exposure

Cognitive Processing Therapy

Trauma-Focused CBT

The book was also created to go along with the worksheets in the CBT for PTSD and Anxiety bundle, so the two make great companions! Learn more about the book.

Obviously games and worksheets can’t replace other types of therapy. However, these tools can help you learn to identify thinking patterns, challenge everyday negative thoughts, question your anxiety thoughts, and understand your thoughts relating to PTSD.

For more helpful tools, download it all with our giant store bundle. It includes all of the activities above plus many more great resources .

Sources: Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. 2021, https://beckinstitute.org/

Chand SP, Kuckel DP, Huecker MR. Cognitive Behavior Therapy. [Updated 2021 Jul 26]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan.

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CBT STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME SOCIAL ANXIETY

Change Destructive Thinking:  Cognitive Restructuring & Mindfulness for Social Anxiety

Larry Cohen (NSAC cofounder and director of NSAC DC) explains how to use and combine these two very different strategies to overcome our anxiety-inducing hot thoughts.

Changing Perceptions in Social Anxiety (Cognitive Restructuring)

Learning to identify your hot thoughts (upsetting ideas, self-talk and mental images) that contribute to your social anxiety; learning to test these thoughts against real-life evidence; and learning to come up with a constructive attitude about the situation and yourself that is more realistic, helpful and compassionate.

Cognitive Restructuring alone is not always enough to overcome our distressing hot thoughts.  Often, cognitive restructuring is a first step in preparing for experiments (see below), where we have the opportunity to test out our hot thoughts v. our constructive attitude about a situation and ourselves. Sometimes we do cognitive restructuring during or after an upsetting situation so we can overcome our distress and learn from the experience.

Mindfulness for Social Anxiety

Learning to acknowledge and set aside your distracting and disturbing thoughts and feelings, and refocus your attention on the conversation and activity in the moment; learning to “get our of your head and into the moment” so that you can interact with others more comfortably and naturally.

Behavioral Experiments (Exposures) for Social Anxiety

Developing a series of learning experiences to help you work on your therapy goals and overcome your social anxiety in small, manageable steps.  You choose your own experiments based on your fear and avoidance hierarchy, starting with situations that are only a little uncomfortable, and gradually working on harder things as you build self-confidence one small step at a time. Generally you will do cognitive restructuring before the experiments, and practice mindfulness during the experiments (see above).  You will also identify safety behaviors (psychological crutches) that you want to limit using during your experiments so that you learn more and build more self-confidence.

Some of these experiments take place during therapy sessions: doing various moderately challenging role plays and other activities with the therapist, as well as going out in public with your therapist to do experiments with strangers.  If you are in a social anxiety therapy group, you will do many of these in-session experiments together with other member of your group, and occasionally with former members of past groups.  If you wish, you will have the option of making private video recordings of some of your in-session experiments so you can test out your hot thoughts about how you come across v. how you actually do appear.

You will also do many other experiments as self-chosen homework between sessions, either on your own, with therapy group co-members, or with personal friends.

Most importantly, you will also learn how to benefit from both your in-session and homework experiments, no matter how they turn out.  You will learn how to identify ways you helped yourself, ways you unintentionally hurt yourself, and evidence you can gather from the experiments that refutes or supports your hot thoughts.  You will also learn how to treat yourself compassionately about the experiments you do, like a good parent or friend would do, so that you build self-confidence and make progress toward your goals more rapidly.

Assertiveness and Problem-Solving for Social Anxiety

Sometimes our social anxiety fears do come true.  Sometimes we do embarrass ourselves.  Sometimes others do judge or reject us, and may even say critical or mean things.  Sometimes we create a bad impression.  These bad things don’t happen as often as we tend to think they do.  Nor do they usually have as negative or lasting an impact on our lives as we believe they will.  Still, our fears do sometimes come true.

One important CBT strategy in overcoming social anxiety is learning to figure out what to do in the event our fears come true.  Sometimes that involves asserting yourself with a critical person in a calm and confident tone.  We practice such assertions in session, using role plays and imagery, and we also practice it in various ways as homework.  Other times we use problem-solving strategies to develop good ways of coping with a situation turning out badly, which we also practice in session and in homework.  The more confident we feel about being able to cope with a fear coming true with our heads held high, the less socially anxious we feel about the situation.

Changing Attitudes in Social Anxiety (Core Beliefs and Personal Rules)

Why do some people experience troubling hot thoughts and much anxiety about a situation in which many other people experience positive thoughts and feelings?  Some of this has to do with different attitudes (core beliefs and personalrules) that people have learned about themselves and the world as they grew up.  Our attitudes act like glasses we wear: we don’t usually think of them, but nonetheless they profoundly affect the way we see the world and the situations we experience.   Change your glasses (attitudes), and the world looks very different to you.

CBT helps you identify the unhealthy core beliefs and rigid personal rules that contribute to your social anxiety.  You then learn various skills and strategies to test and weaken your unhealthy attitudes, and to develop and strengthen alternative, healthy attitudes.

How to Get Help for Social Anxiety

The National Social Anxiety Center (NSAC) is an association of independent Regional Clinics and Associates throughout the United States with certified cognitive-behavioral therapists (CBT) specializing in social anxiety and other anxiety-related problems.

Find an NSAC Regional Clinic or Associate which is licensed to help people in the state where you are located.

Places where nsac regional clinics and associates are based.

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Assigning Homework in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

It’s certainly true that therapy outcomes depend in part on the work taking place in each session. But for this progress to reach its full impact, clients need to use what they learn in therapy during their daily lives. 

Assigning therapy “homework” can help your clients practice new skills during the week. While many types of therapy may involve some form of weekly assignment, homework is a key component of cognitive behavior therapy. 

Types of Homework

Some clients may respond well to any type of homework, while others may struggle to complete or find benefit in certain assignments. It’s important for clients to step outside of their comfort zone in some ways. For example, it’s essential to learn to challenge unwanted thoughts and increase understanding of feelings and emotions, especially for people who struggle with emotional expression. 

But there isn’t just one way to achieve these goals. Finding the right type of homework for each client can make success more likely. 

There are many different types of therapy homework. Asking your client to practice breathing exercises when they feel anxious or stressed? That’s homework. Journaling about distressing thoughts and ways to challenge them, or keeping track of cognitive distortions ? Also homework.

Some clients may do well with different assignments each week, while others may have harder times with certain types of homework. For example:

• An artistic client may not get much from written exercises. They might, however, prefer to sketch or otherwise illustrate their mood, feelings, or reactions during the week. 
• Clients who struggle with or dislike reading may feel challenged by even plain-language articles. If you plan to assign educational materials, ask in your first session whether your client prefers audio or written media. 

When you give the assignment, take a few minutes to go over it with your client. Give an example of how to complete it and make sure they understand the process. You’ll also want to explain the purpose of the assignment. Someone who doesn’t see the point of a task may be less likely to put real effort into it. If you give a self-assessment worksheet early in the therapy process, you might say, “It can help to have a clear picture of where you believe you’re at right now. Later in therapy I’ll ask you to complete another assessment and we can compare the two to review what’s changed.” 

Mental Health Apps

Some people may also find apps a useful way to develop and practice emotional wellness coping skills outside of therapy. Therapy apps can help people track their moods, emotions, or other mental health symptoms. They can provide a platform to practice CBT or other therapy skills. They can also offer structured mindfulness meditations or help clients practice other grounding techniques. 

If you’re working with a client who’s interested in therapy apps, you might try using them in treatment. Just keep in mind that not all apps offer the same benefits. Some may have limitations, such as clunky or confusing interfaces and potential privacy concerns. It’s usually a good idea to check whether there’s any research providing support for—or against—a specific app before recommending it to a client. 

Trusted mental health sources, such as the American Psychological Association or Anxiety and Depression Association of America websites, may list some popular mental health apps, though they may not specifically endorse them. These resources can be a good starting place. Other organizations, including Northwestern University’s Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies and the Defense Department of the United States, have developed their own research-backed mental health apps. 

You can also review apps yourself. Try out scenarios or options within the app to get to know how the app works and whether it might meet your client’s needs. This will put you in a position to answer their questions and help give them tips on getting the most out of the app. 

Benefits of Homework

Some of your clients may wonder why you’re assigning homework. After all, they signed up for therapy, not school. 

When clients ask about the benefits of therapy homework, you can point out how it provides an opportunity to put things learned in session into practice outside the therapy session. This helps people get used to using the new skills in their toolbox to work through issues that come up for them in their daily lives. More importantly, it teaches them they can use these skills on their own, when a therapist or other support person isn’t actively providing coaching or encouragement. This knowledge is an important aspect of therapy success. 

A 2010 review of 23 studies on homework in therapy found evidence to suggest that clients who completed therapy homework generally had better treatment outcomes. This review did have some limitations, such as not considering the therapeutic relationship or how clients felt about homework. But other research supports these findings, leading many mental health experts to support the use of therapy homework, particularly in CBT. Homework can be one of many effective tools in making therapy more successful. 

Improving Homework Compliance

You may eventually work with a client who shows little interest in homework and doesn’t complete the assignments. You know this could impede their progress in therapy, so you’ll probably want to bring this up in session and ask why they’re having difficulty with the homework. You can also try varying the types of homework you assign or asking if your client is interested in trying out a mental health app that can offer similar benefits outside your weekly sessions. 

When you ask a client about homework non-compliance, it’s important to do it in a way that doesn’t anger them, make them feel defensive, or otherwise damage the relationship you’re working to develop. Here are some tips for having this conversation:

• Let them know homework helps them practice their skills outside of therapy. In short, it’s helping them get more out of therapy (more value for their money) and may lead to more improvement, sometimes in a shorter period of time than one weekly session would alone. 
• Bring up the possibility of other types of homework. “If you don’t want to write anything down, would you want to try listening to a guided meditation or tips to help manage upsetting emotions?” 
• Ask about it, in a non-confrontational way. You might say something like, “Is something making it difficult for you to complete the homework assignments? How can I help make the process easier for you?” 

The prospect of homework in therapy may surprise some clients, but for many people, it’s an essential element of success. Those put off by the term “homework” may view “skills practice” or similar phrasing more favorably, so don’t feel afraid to call it something else. The important part is the work itself, not what you call it.    References:

• Ackerman, C. (2017, March 20). 25 CBT techniques and worksheets for cognitive behavioral therapy. Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/cbt-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-techniques-worksheets
• ADAA reviewed mental health apps. (n.d.). Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Retrieved from https://adaa.org/finding-help/mobile-apps
• Mausbach, B. T., Moore, R., Roesch, S., Cardenas, V., & Patterson, T. L. (2010). The relationship between homework compliance and therapy outcomes: An updated meta-analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34 (5), 429-438. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2939342
• Mental health apps. (n.d.). The American Institute of Stress. Retrieved from https://www.stress.org/mental-health-apps
• Novotney, A. (2016). Should you use an app to help that client? Monitor on Psychology, 47 (10), 64. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/11/client-app
• Tang, W, & Kreindler, D. (2017). Supporting homework compliance in cognitive behavioural therapy: Essential features of mobile apps. JMIR Mental Health, 4(2). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5481663

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Top 10 CBT Worksheets Websites

The best cognitive behavioural therapy resources, activities and assignments all in one place.

Hi, it’s Rosie here, Uncommon Knowledge’s content manager.  I’ve been hearing a lot from practitioners who use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and are on the lookout for new resources, especially CBT worksheets.

So to flesh out our resources, I’ve had this list put together, which features ten of the best websites featuring CBT worksheets.

Edit: We’ve recently added our own free therapy worksheets section, including a range of CBT worksheets .

Where to find CBT worksheets

CBT  is one of the most widely used therapeutic treatment approaches in mental health today. Because it is an action-oriented approach, homework is a key aspect of the change process. And CBT tools such as worksheets, activity assignments, bibliotherapy and guided imagery can all be useful homework assignments.

But finding those clinically-sound, cost-effective and easy-to-access resources can be the therapist’s challenge. There’s not always time to sift through books or surf the ‘net looking for those CBT worksheets or teaching tools that are “just right”. Aside from staying on schedule, you want to spend time with your clients, helping them achieve their goals.

So here’s a list of ten of the best CBT resource sites for you to use as a reference point for your practice:

1. Therapist Aid

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The site contains a huge selection of CBT worksheets as well as videos, guides and other resources. ‘The ABC model of CBT’ is a particularly good video to help clients understand the relationship between their thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

2. Psychology Tools

Psychology Tools is another one of those really great sites that has been created by practitioners for practitioners. It was designed as a way to share materials among therapists. The site offers a number of CBT-specific articles, assessments and tools for clinical use. There is also a self-help section.

One of the strengths of this site is that it offers resources for several other therapies including ACT, DBT and EMDR. Therapists can also submit their own worksheets or other resources for consideration of inclusion on the website.

3. Excel At Life

Guided imagery and mindfulness meditation are often used as part of a CBT approach to treatment. This site offers a range of free audio downloads for a variety of needs. These downloads can be used in the office or as part of a homework assignment.

This site offers several CBT resources for the practitioner as well as the client seeking self-directed support including informative articles and forms such as a mood diary and various questionnaires. This site is exceptionally user-friendly.

4. Living CBT

This site offers a number of worksheets and tools including diary forms, action plans and a number of helpful self-statements that are great for sharing with clients. The tools are mostly in PDF and are easy to download. The site also offers several self-help books for purchase.

Aside from the self-help section, this site also has a Free CBT Therapist Resources section. The tools available here are similar to those found in the general section but some are more appropriate for use in the clinical setting.

5. Veronica Walsh’s CBT Blog

This site is a great little gem chock full of CBT resources and downloads. Worksheets cover everything from a CBT journaling guide to incorporating mindfulness to using CBT with cyberbullying. Spend a little time on this site and you’ll find all kinds of useful tools that you and your client can work with. The owner of this site has put a lot of work into making a plethora of resources available to the user.

6. Specialty Behavioral Health

This site offers a variety of worksheets for the practitioner as well as worksheets specifically for CBT. They are well-designed and easily adapted to a variety of clients. Two worksheets to check out are the ‘Ways to Challenge Your Thoughts’ and the ‘Procrastination Profiles’, as well as accompanying ‘Task Master Worksheet (for Procrastination)’. These are nicely done and would be particularly useful with the client struggling to understand thought patterns and challenging negative thinking.

7. GetSelfHelp

This website provides a number of CBT self-help and therapy resources, including downloadable worksheets, information sheets and CBT formulations.

One of the standouts of this site is the 40-page CBT-based self-help course. It’s free and chock full of information and tools to help your clients understand and implement changes. You can find the course here.

8. Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

This is a 52-page fully downloadable CBT workbook from the Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. It is full of client-friendly descriptions, activities and tools for setting and achieving goals. This workbook is the kind of tool that can be used by the therapist with a client or as a self-help tool for self-motivated clients.

9. Martin CBT

This site is often mentioned when the question of CBT resources comes up. While not as extensive an offering as some sites, the forms and tools found here are well-produced, immediately usable and user-friendly.

One of the highlights is the ‘Cycle of Maladaptive Behavior’ sheet. Clients don’t always understand the cycle and how their behaviours manifest. This worksheet does a good job of describing the cycle and how it unfolds. The site also offers an excellent handout with examples and descriptions of cognitive distortions. Definitely worth a visit!

10. EPISCenter

A list of CBT worksheets would not be complete without including a few child specific resources. CBT has been shown to be effective with children, especially in trauma work.

This workbook is an excellent resource for CBT and trauma work with children. There are relatively few tools specifically designed for children. This workbook is particularly well-constructed and child-friendly.

So there you have it. Ten of the best sites out there for CBT resources and tools. Are there more out there? You bet! There are lots of great resources out there for every level of need and every type of problem. But these sites represent some of the best of what’s out there and will get you started in working with your clients using CBT worksheets. You’ll have more time with your clients and your clients will benefit from having some of the best tools out there.

Update: This post was so popular with readers we added another! Read 10 More Top CBT Worksheets Websites here .

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is an important part of the treatment jigsaw and our co-founder Mark Tyrrell would want me to mention the following articles we already have available, in the spirit of setting it in a wider context:

• 3 Instantly Calming CBT Techniques for Anxiety
• The Sensible Psychology Dictionary defines CBT

Would you like to enhance your reframing skills?

Click here to read how my online course ‘Conversational Reframing’ shows you how to craft cunning reframes and slip them past your clients’ conscious criticisms.

About Mark Tyrrell

Psychology is my passion. I've been a psychotherapist trainer since 1998, specializing in brief, solution focused approaches. I now teach practitioners all over the world via our online courses .

You can get my book FREE when you subscribe to my therapy techniques newsletter. Click here to subscribe free now.

You can also get my articles on YouTube , find me on Instagram , Amazon , Twitter , and Facebook .

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Practicing CBT Coping Skills for Anxiety and Depression

This 3-page guide provides an introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and its effective techniques for managing anxiety and depression. It offers practical strategies such as cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, behavioral activation, and relaxation techniques, designed to help individuals develop healthier thought patterns and coping mechanisms. With clear explanations and actionable steps, this guide supports the integration of CBT skills into daily life, fostering improved mental health and well-being. Reflective exercises are included to help readers assess and enhance their coping strategies.

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