CBT worksheet
Thought Record
A seven-column cognitive behavioral therapy worksheet for noticing an automatic thought, examining the evidence, and building a more balanced alternative.
How to use this worksheet
Situation
When and where were you? What was happening the moment your mood changed? (Who, what, when, where.)
Emotions
Name each feeling in a word (sad, anxious, angry, ashamed) and rate its intensity 0–100%.
Automatic thought(s)
What went through your mind? Underline the “hot thought” — the one most tied to the strongest emotion.
Evidence that supports the hot thought
Facts only — what you could show on a video, not interpretations.
Evidence that does not support the hot thought
What facts don't fit? What would you tell a friend who had this thought? Any other way to see it?
Balanced / alternative thought
Given all the evidence, a fairer and more accurate thought. Rate how much you believe it 0–100%.
Re-rate your emotions
Return to the feelings from step 2 and rate each again now, 0–100%.
Cognitive distortion reference
All-or-nothing: Seeing things in black-and-white categories.
Overgeneralization: One negative event becomes a never-ending pattern.
Catastrophizing: Expecting the worst-case outcome.
Mind reading: Assuming you know what others are thinking.
Emotional reasoning: “I feel it, so it must be true.”
Should statements: Rigid rules about how you or others must be.
Labeling: Attaching a fixed global label to yourself or others.
Personalization: Taking responsibility for things outside your control.
Mental filter: Dwelling on a single negative and screening out the positives.
Discounting the positive: Insisting positives “don’t count.”