Clients working on anxiety, low mood or distress in CBT may find this printable information sheet useful for noticing unhelpful thoughts and linking them to feelings and behaviour. It explains the ABC model in plain language, with prompts for identifying an activating event, emotional and behavioural consequences, beliefs, hot thoughts and deeper thought patterns.
This free CBT analysing your thinking anxiety PDF worksheet is a printable tool for breaking down anxious thoughts and understanding how they affect emotions, physical sensations and behaviour. It guides the user through the ABC model in a structured way, helping them describe the situation clearly, identify beliefs or assumptions, and notice the consequences that followed.
Use it in CBT sessions, counselling appointments, wellbeing work or personal reflection to map an upsetting event step by step. The sheet prompts the reader to record the situation like a video camera, rate the strength of feelings from 0 to 100, note actions or avoidance behaviours, list the thoughts that were present and identify the hot thought most closely linked to the main emotion.
It may be useful for adults or older teenagers receiving support for anxiety, worry, panic, low mood or emotional distress, as well as therapists, counsellors and wellbeing practitioners introducing cognitive behavioural therapy skills. The questions encourage deeper thought discovery, including what feels bad about the situation, what the person imagines happening, and what the thought may say about them.
Download and print the worksheet for use in sessions, between-session practice, guided self-help or home learning. It can also be kept as part of a CBT workbook or therapy folder to support later work on challenging unhelpful thoughts and developing more balanced perspectives.
