Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Stabilization tools and overview of trauma-focused treatments.
Overview
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can develop after exposure to a traumatic event — combat, sexual assault, serious accident, natural disaster, or repeated childhood adversity. It affects roughly 6% of U.S. adults at some point in their lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
PTSD is treatable. Three psychotherapies have the strongest evidence: Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and EMDR. SSRIs are also effective. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has produced extensive free educational materials on these treatments.
The worksheets on this page are stabilization-focused. Trauma-focused treatment itself should be done with a trained clinician; the materials here support that work, not replace it.
Day-to-day, living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often involves a mix of better and worse weeks rather than a smooth line of progress. That oscillation is normal and does not mean treatment is failing. The clearest signs that a treatment plan is working are not the absence of bad days but the gradual return of activities that had dropped away, increased confidence in being able to handle setbacks, and a slow narrowing of the situations that feel off-limits. Tracking these markers in a simple weekly log makes them visible in a way that lived experience alone often does not.
Family members and close friends play an important role in long-term outcomes, but they often do not know what would actually help. Three things consistently make the largest difference: continuing to do ordinary things together (meals, walks, errands) without making the condition the center of every interaction; asking what specifically would be helpful in a given week rather than guessing; and supporting professional treatment without taking it over. NIMH and SAMHSA both publish free guides for family members of people living with post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) and related conditions.
Treatment access in the United States has improved significantly in the past decade, but it is still uneven. If cost is a barrier, several routes are worth knowing about: federally qualified health centers offer sliding-scale care regardless of insurance status; many graduate training clinics offer low-fee therapy from supervised trainees; and a growing number of evidence-based digital programs have been validated in clinical trials. SAMHSA's findtreatment.gov directory is a free, federal-government-maintained starting point for locating local services. If you are a veteran, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has dedicated mental-health resources for post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) and related conditions.
Worksheets for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The following worksheets are most often used in evidence-based treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Imaginal Exposure Script
A guided script for repeatedly visualizing a feared scenario in detail until distress habituates.
Radical Acceptance Reflection
A worksheet for practicing acceptance of a reality you cannot currently change without endorsing it.
Five-Senses Grounding Exercise
A short worksheet that walks you through naming five things you can see, four hear, three touch, two smell, and one taste.
Window of Tolerance Map
A worksheet for plotting your nervous-system states and the cues that signal you're leaving your window.
Container Visualization Script
A guided imagery script for temporarily setting aside intrusive material in a mental container until session.
Safe Place Imagery Script
A grounding imagery script for building a vivid, sensory mental refuge you can visit when activated.
Grounding Skills Menu
A printable menu of grounding skills (5-4-3-2-1, cold water, naming objects) organized by intensity.
Trigger Tracking Sheet
A trauma-informed worksheet for mapping triggers, body cues, and coping responses without going into trauma content.
Resource Building Inventory
A worksheet for cataloguing your existing internal and external resources before any deeper trauma work.
Pendulation Practice Card
A short reference for moving attention between activated and calm states, drawn from somatic experiencing.
Flashback Halt Card
A pocket-sized printable for use when flashbacks begin — orienting prompts, breathing, name, date, location.
Compassion-Focused Imagery Script
A guided imagery script in the Compassion-Focused Therapy tradition for cultivating an inner compassionate figure.
Explainer guides
How to Handle a Panic Attack
What is happening in your body, what helps in the moment, and how to reduce future attacks.
What Is Self-Compassion?
A research-backed introduction to self-compassion practice, drawn from Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer's work.
Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD
How ERP works, why it is the gold-standard treatment for OCD, and what to expect from a course.
What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
A plain-language introduction to CBT — what it is, how it works, who it is for, and what to expect from a course of it.
How to Use a Thought Record
Step-by-step instructions for the most-used worksheet in CBT, with worked examples and common pitfalls.
Common Cognitive Distortions Explained
A guide to the ten or so most common thinking traps in CBT, with examples and the move that disarms each one.