In everyday anxiety work, negative predictions are often the thoughts that keep avoidance and safety behaviours going. A printable CBT handout like this can support reflection, discussion and between-session practice by helping people test feared outcomes rather than assuming they will happen.
This Behavioural Experiments for Negative Predictions PDF is a practical CBT resource for exploring anxious predictions and testing them in a structured way. It explains how people can overestimate the likelihood of something going wrong, imagine the consequences as worse than they may be, underestimate their ability to cope, and miss evidence that a situation might be manageable. The example of a BBQ social situation helps make the ideas concrete, linking negative predictions with avoidance, escape, over-cautious behaviour and safety behaviours.
The handout is suitable for adults and older teenagers working on panic, anxiety, social anxiety, low self-esteem or depression, particularly when fear of embarrassment, rejection, judgement or not coping gets in the way of everyday activities. Counsellors, CBT therapists, psychologists and wellbeing practitioners can use it during sessions to introduce behavioural experiments, support collaborative discussion, and guide planning for a real-life test.
It can also be used as a between-session worksheet, self-help exercise or home learning task. The prompts encourage users to record the feared prediction, rate how strongly they believe it, identify possible obstacles, gather evidence and review what actually happened. This makes it easier to compare predictions with outcomes and notice any new learning.
Download and print the PDF to use as a clear session aid, revision prompt or practical worksheet when helping someone move from anxious assumptions towards planned, reflective action.
