Anxiety worksheets
Worksheets for worry, generalized anxiety, and the physical experience of fear.
Anxiety is the mind's alarm system reacting to a threat that may be real, exaggerated, or imagined. The worksheets in this section help you map what triggers your anxiety, examine the thoughts that fuel it, and build a healthier relationship with the bodily sensations of fear.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the most studied treatment for anxiety disorders and consistently shows large, durable effects. Most CBT protocols combine three ingredients: psychoeducation about how anxiety works, cognitive techniques for noticing and reframing anxious predictions, and behavioral techniques (especially exposure) for retraining the body's threat system through experience.
Whether you are working on generalized worry, panic, or a specific fear that has narrowed your life, these tools are meant to be used repeatedly. Anxiety responds to practice, not insight.
All Anxiety worksheets (91)
Thought Record
A structured five-column worksheet for capturing a difficult moment, the thoughts that arose, and a more balanced alternative.
ABC Worksheet
The Activating event → Belief → Consequence framework that sits at the heart of cognitive therapy, drawn from Albert Ellis.
Cognitive Distortions Checklist
A reference list of common thinking traps — catastrophizing, all-or-nothing thinking, mind-reading — used to label and disarm unhelpful pat…
Downward Arrow Technique
A guided prompt for following an upsetting thought down to the underlying belief that gives it power.
Behavioral Experiment Worksheet
A planner for testing predictions in the real world rather than arguing with them in your head.
Evidence For and Against
A two-column tool for gathering observable data that supports or contradicts a hot thought.
Reframing Negative Thoughts
A worked-example handout teaching the move from a catastrophic thought to a fairer alternative.
Pie Chart of Responsibility
A graphical tool that breaks down "I caused this" thinking into all the contributing factors that were actually involved.
Worry Postponement Worksheet
A scheduling technique that asks worries to wait for a designated worry window rather than colonizing the day.
Probability vs. Possibility
A worksheet for separating "this could happen" from "this is likely to happen" in anxious thinking.
Cognitive Triangle Diagram
A printable diagram of the thought–feeling–behavior triangle with prompts for filling it in from a real moment.
Decatastrophizing Worksheet
A four-question prompt: What is the worst case? What is the best case? What is most likely? What would you do if it happened?
Emotional Reasoning Worksheet
A guided check on the assumption that "if I feel it, it must be true."
Fortune-Telling Thought Worksheet
A worksheet for noticing predictions about the future presented as if they were facts.
Mind-Reading Audit
A check on assumptions about what other people are thinking about you.
Mental Filter Worksheet
A guided exercise on attention to the negative slice of an experience while filtering out the rest.
Hot Thought Identification
A short worksheet for finding the single thought that carried the most emotional charge in a difficult moment.
Cognitive Conceptualization Diagram
A clinician-style diagram for mapping core beliefs, intermediate beliefs, and situations.
Coping Card Template
A wallet-sized printable card for capturing your most useful reframes in advance.
Avoidance Hierarchy
A ranked list of avoided situations along with concrete plans for re-engaging with them step by step.
Avoidance vs. Approach Audit
A weekly review for sorting recent decisions into avoidance moves and approach moves.
Exposure Hierarchy Builder
A SUDS-rated ladder of feared situations from easiest to hardest, used to plan a graded exposure program.
Imaginal Exposure Script
A guided script for repeatedly visualizing a feared scenario in detail until distress habituates.
Interoceptive Exposure Menu
A list of brief physical exercises (spinning, hyperventilating, breath-holding) used to expose to feared bodily sensations.
Exposure Tracking Sheet
A repeated-trial log for tracking SUDS across exposure sessions to make habituation visible.
Safety Behavior Audit
A worksheet for identifying the small protective rituals that prevent a feared situation from being a true exposure.
Post-Exposure Reflection
A debrief worksheet for capturing what was learned from an exposure session and updating predictions.
In Vivo Exposure Planner
A planner for setting up real-world exposure tasks with clear start and stop conditions.
Exposure Prediction Sheet
A pre-exposure worksheet for writing down your predictions so they can be checked against what actually happens.
Habituation Curve Diagram
A printable graph for plotting SUDS during an exposure to make the falling curve concrete.
Inhibitory Learning Worksheet
A modern-exposure worksheet for tracking expectancy violations rather than fear reduction.
Exposure Fear-Cue Inventory
A worksheet for itemizing the specific cues that trigger your feared response.
OCD Response Prevention Plan
A planner for structured ERP — what triggers, what response to prevent, what alternative response to choose.
Defusion Practice Sheet
A handout introducing several quick defusion techniques (saying "I'm having the thought that...") for changing your relationship to a stick…
Acceptance and Willingness Scale
A reflection sheet on what you would be willing to feel in service of moving toward what you care about.
Self-as-Context Exercise
A guided exercise for noticing the observer behind your experience, distinct from the content of your thoughts.
Hexaflex Self-Check
A reflection across the six processes of psychological flexibility — defusion, acceptance, present moment, self-as-context, values, committ…
Passengers on the Bus Metaphor
A printable handout of the classic ACT metaphor with prompts for naming your own passengers.
Leaves on a Stream Script
A guided defusion practice script for placing thoughts on imagined leaves and watching them float by.
Opposite Action Worksheet
A guided worksheet for identifying when an emotion does not fit the facts and acting opposite to its action urge.
Check the Facts Worksheet
A DBT cognitive worksheet for examining whether the intensity of an emotion matches the situation.
Build Mastery and Cope Ahead
A planner combining a daily mastery activity with a cope-ahead rehearsal of an upcoming hard situation.
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.
Urge Surfing Worksheet
A mindfulness worksheet for riding out a craving or urge by attending to its rise and fall in the body.
RAIN Practice Worksheet
A printable RAIN practice (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) for working with difficult emotion.
Mindful Breathing Counter
A short-form breathing meditation worksheet with a simple counting scaffold.
Scaling Questions Sheet
A 0–10 scaling worksheet for tracking change and identifying what one small step up would look like.
Bedtime Worry Dump
A pre-bed writing exercise for emptying the mental to-do list onto paper before lights out.
Constructive Worry Sheet
A two-step bedtime worksheet — list the worry, list the next concrete step — used to reduce nighttime cognitive arousal.
Soothing Touch Practice
A handout on the physiology of soothing touch and how to use it in moments of distress.
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.
Panic Cycle Diagram Worksheet
A printable diagram of the panic loop with prompts for identifying your own catastrophic interpretations.
Worry Tree
A flowchart for triaging a worry into "actionable now" vs. "let it go" vs. "schedule for later."
Behavioral Experiment Log for Social Anxiety
A specialized behavioral experiment template for testing predictions about social situations.
Generalized Worry Diary
A daily worry log used to surface themes and the gap between worried predictions and actual outcomes.
Health Anxiety Reassurance Audit
A worksheet for cataloging reassurance-seeking behaviors and planning to reduce them.
Performance Anxiety Pre-Event Plan
A pre-event worksheet for managing predictable performance situations — presentations, exams, interviews.
Driving Anxiety Hierarchy
A specialized exposure hierarchy for driving avoidance, from short stretches to highways.
Public Speaking Behavioral Experiment
A worksheet for designing a real-world test of a public-speaking prediction.
Problem-Solving Worksheet
A six-step worksheet (define, brainstorm, evaluate, choose, plan, review) for working a real problem through to action.
Worry Diary
A daily worry log used to surface themes and the gap between worried predictions and actual outcomes.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation Script
A printable script for the classic 16-muscle-group relaxation protocol.
Diaphragmatic Breathing Practice Sheet
Step-by-step instructions for a 4-7-8 or paced breathing practice with daily logging.
Catastrophizing Worksheet
A two-column worksheet for catching worst-case predictions and writing a fairer alternative.
Decentering Practice Sheet
A short practice for stepping back from thoughts and noticing them as mental events rather than facts.
Emotion Regulation Diary
A daily emotion log with prompts for noticing the situation, emotion, action urge, and skill used.
Identifying Avoidance Patterns
A weekly review worksheet for spotting subtle avoidance moves before they consolidate.
Sleep Cognitions Worksheet
A worksheet for catching catastrophic thinking about sleep that paradoxically prolongs insomnia.
Safety Plan Template
A printable Stanley-Brown safety plan template — warning signs, internal coping, distractions, supports, professionals, lethal-means safety.
Suicide Crisis Coping Card
A wallet-sized printable card with your specific coping steps, emergency contacts, and reasons for living.
Trichotillomania Habit Reversal Sheet
A habit-reversal-training worksheet for tracking pulling episodes and pre-deciding competing responses.
Skin Picking Awareness Log
A daily log for skin picking — triggers, location, duration, competing response used.
Anxiety Sensitivity Index Reflection
A reflection worksheet on the meanings you attach to specific bodily sensations.
Behavioral Experiment Audit
A monthly review for cataloguing your behavioral experiments, what they tested, and what you learned.
Self-Monitoring of Avoidance
A daily check-in for noticing subtle avoidance — distractions, busywork, "I'll do it later" — before it consolidates.
Worry Time Schedule
A worksheet for setting up a daily worry-time window and a system for postponing worries until then.
Relapse Prevention Plan
A standard CBT relapse prevention plan covering early warning signs, coping moves, supports, and a written agreement.
Self-Talk Replacement Card
A printable two-column wallet card with your most common harsh self-statements and their pre-written replacements.
Money Worry Worksheet
A targeted worry-focused worksheet for financial anxiety, separating actionable steps from rumination.
Medication Adherence Plan
A planner for sustaining a medication routine, including barriers, supports, and re-start procedures after lapses.
Anxiety vs. Excitement Reframe
A short worksheet for reframing the same physiological arousal as excitement instead of anxiety.
Intrusive Thought Acceptance Sheet
An ACT-style worksheet for unhooking from intrusive thoughts without trying to suppress them.
OCD Imaginal Exposure Script
An imaginal exposure script for the feared outcome behind a specific obsession.
BDD Mirror Retraining Plan
A targeted mirror-use plan for body dysmorphia, replacing checking with neutral mirror retraining.
Therapy Session Note
A printable post-session note template for writing down takeaways and the homework you committed to.
Therapy Goals Worksheet
A first-session worksheet for articulating what you want a course of therapy to accomplish.
Symptom Outcome Tracker
A printable graph for tracking weekly PHQ-9, GAD-7, or other measure scores over time.