Depression worksheets
Tools for behavioral activation, thought work, and rebuilding a life that feels worth showing up for.
Depression is more than sadness — it is a coordinated downshift in motivation, attention, sleep, and appetite that tends to feed on itself. The worksheets in this section approach depression from two directions at once: the cognitive side (the thought patterns that maintain low mood) and the behavioral side (the withdrawal that starves a person of the experiences that normally lift them).
Behavioral activation has the strongest single-component evidence base for depression. It works by scheduling small, deliberate activities into the day so that a person re-encounters reward, mastery, and connection before they feel motivated to seek them out.
Cognitive work — thought records, evidence gathering, core-belief work — addresses the second engine of depression: the habit of interpreting events through a self-critical, hopelessness-tinted lens.
All Depression worksheets (92)
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…
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.
Core Beliefs Worksheet
A guided exercise for identifying and gently testing the deep "I am ___" beliefs that color daily experience.
Cognitive Triangle Diagram
A printable diagram of the thought–feeling–behavior triangle with prompts for filling it in from a real moment.
Personalization Worksheet
A reflection on the cognitive distortion of taking impersonal events personally.
Magnification and Minimization Log
A two-column log for catching the habit of inflating problems and shrinking strengths.
Emotional Reasoning Worksheet
A guided check on the assumption that "if I feel it, it must be true."
Disqualifying the Positive
A worksheet for noticing the habit of dismissing good news as luck or coincidence.
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.
Two-Column Belief Test
A side-by-side comparison of an old belief and a more workable one after gathering evidence for both.
Cognitive Conceptualization Diagram
A clinician-style diagram for mapping core beliefs, intermediate beliefs, and situations.
Reattribution Worksheet
A worksheet for redistributing perceived causes of an outcome more fairly across factors.
Activity Monitoring Log
A daily log of activities and the mood they produce, used to find what is and isn't feeding depression.
Activity Scheduling Worksheet
A planner for scheduling pleasant and mastery activities into a week before motivation arrives.
Pleasure and Mastery Inventory
A two-list inventory of activities that bring enjoyment and activities that build a sense of competence.
Values to Action Bridge
A worksheet that converts abstract values into specific, scheduled actions in the next seven days.
Avoidance Hierarchy
A ranked list of avoided situations along with concrete plans for re-engaging with them step by step.
Behavioral Activation Weekly Plan
A printable weekly grid for distributing meaningful and pleasurable activities throughout the day.
Energy and Mood Tracker
A 24-hour tracker for plotting mood and energy alongside what you actually did.
Outside-In vs. Inside-Out Worksheet
A psychoeducation worksheet on why action precedes motivation in depression.
Routine Reconstruction Plan
A worksheet for rebuilding a basic morning, midday, and evening structure from the ground up.
Reward Menu
A printable menu of small, low-effort rewards to pair with completion of difficult tasks.
Avoidance vs. Approach Audit
A weekly review for sorting recent decisions into avoidance moves and approach moves.
Behavioral Activation Goal Ladder
A bottom-up ladder of approach behaviors building from very easy to genuinely meaningful.
Defusion Practice Sheet
A handout introducing several quick defusion techniques (saying "I'm having the thought that...") for changing your relationship to a stick…
Values Clarification Worksheet
A bullseye-style worksheet for ranking life domains and articulating what matters in each one.
Committed Action Planner
A worksheet for translating a value into a small, scheduled, concrete action this week.
Acceptance and Willingness Scale
A reflection sheet on what you would be willing to feel in service of moving toward what you care about.
Hexaflex Self-Check
A reflection across the six processes of psychological flexibility — defusion, acceptance, present moment, self-as-context, values, committ…
Funeral Visualization Exercise
A long-arc values exercise asking what you would want said about you if you lived your stated values fully.
PLEASE Skills Self-Audit
A self-care audit covering physical illness, eating, mood-altering substances, sleep, and exercise.
Opposite Action Worksheet
A guided worksheet for identifying when an emotion does not fit the facts and acting opposite to its action urge.
Build Mastery and Cope Ahead
A planner combining a daily mastery activity with a cope-ahead rehearsal of an upcoming hard situation.
Diary Card
A standard DBT diary card for tracking emotions, urges, skills used, and target behaviors across the week.
RAIN Practice Worksheet
A printable RAIN practice (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) for working with difficult emotion.
Three Good Things Journal
A nightly gratitude practice from Seligman's research — write down three good things from the day and what made each possible.
Strengths Inventory Worksheet
A worksheet for identifying your character strengths and brainstorming new ways to use them.
Best Possible Self Exercise
An expressive writing exercise in which you describe your life going as well as it realistically could ten years from now.
Savoring Practice
A worksheet that walks you through deliberately extending and amplifying a positive moment.
Acts of Kindness Tracker
A weekly tracker for performing intentional acts of kindness and noting their effect on mood.
Meaning Inventory Worksheet
A reflection on the sources of meaning in your life — work, relationships, beliefs, contribution.
Hope Mapping Worksheet
A worksheet derived from Snyder's hope theory — clarify a goal, name pathways, identify agency.
Awe Walk Plan
A short prep-sheet for an "awe walk," a structured outdoor practice shown to increase positive affect.
Miracle Question Worksheet
A guided imagining of waking up tomorrow with the problem solved — what would be different, what would you notice?
Scaling Questions Sheet
A 0–10 scaling worksheet for tracking change and identifying what one small step up would look like.
Exception-Finding Worksheet
A worksheet for searching the past week for moments when the problem was smaller or absent.
Pre-Session Change Worksheet
A check-in worksheet for noticing small positive shifts that have already happened before formal work begins.
Best Hopes Worksheet
An opening worksheet for naming what you most hope a piece of work will lead to.
Self-Compassion Break Script
A short three-step script (mindfulness, common humanity, self-kindness) drawn from Kristin Neff's work.
Inner Critic vs. Compassionate Self Dialogue
A two-column worksheet for writing back to a harsh inner critic in a compassionate voice.
Core Belief Restructuring Sheet
A long-form worksheet for examining and gently revising a long-held negative core belief.
Inner Critic Naming Sheet
A practical worksheet for giving your inner critic a name and a voice you can talk back to.
Post-Event Rumination Worksheet
A structured prompt for working with the long mental replays that follow social interactions.
Goal Setting Worksheet
A printable worksheet for translating a vague intention into a specific, measurable, scheduled goal.
Functional Analysis Worksheet
A behavioral worksheet for mapping the antecedents, behavior, and consequences of a problem pattern.
Mild Depression Self-Help Plan
A six-week structured self-help plan for mild depression based on behavioral activation principles.
Emotion Regulation Diary
A daily emotion log with prompts for noticing the situation, emotion, action urge, and skill used.
Chronic Pain Activity Pacing
A worksheet for designing a pacing plan that balances activity and rest in chronic pain.
Identifying Avoidance Patterns
A weekly review worksheet for spotting subtle avoidance moves before they consolidate.
Personal Mission Statement
A long-form reflection worksheet for drafting a sentence or two that captures what you want your life to stand for.
Gratitude Visit Plan
A planning worksheet for the gratitude visit — drafting and delivering an in-person letter of thanks.
Self-Validation Worksheet
A worksheet for practicing the DBT skill of validating your own experience before trying to change it.
Daily Mood Log
A simple printable mood log used to gather data over a few weeks for patterns.
Reverse Bucket List
An expressive worksheet for naming what you have already done that has mattered to you.
Safety Plan Template
A printable Stanley-Brown safety plan template — warning signs, internal coping, distractions, supports, professionals, lethal-means safety.
Reasons for Living Inventory
A reflection worksheet for itemizing the things that make staying worth it on hard days.
Procrastination Functional Analysis
A worksheet for mapping the relief that procrastination provides and what it actually costs.
Health Behavior Change Plan
A six-step planner for changing a health behavior — exercise, diet, screen time — with relapse handling built in.
Habit Tracker (28-Day)
A printable 28-day habit tracker with a single-row check-the-box layout for one habit at a time.
Self-Monitoring of Avoidance
A daily check-in for noticing subtle avoidance — distractions, busywork, "I'll do it later" — before it consolidates.
Daily Gratitude Three-Sentence Prompt
A minimal three-sentence printable prompt for use as a daily gratitude micro-practice.
Relapse Prevention Plan
A standard CBT relapse prevention plan covering early warning signs, coping moves, supports, and a written agreement.
Crisis Box Inventory
A planning worksheet for assembling a physical or digital "crisis box" — items, scripts, contacts, distractions.
Letter to Future Self
A long-form letter exercise for the version of you reading this six or twelve months from now.
Loneliness Mapping Worksheet
A reflective worksheet for distinguishing different kinds of loneliness — social, emotional, existential — and what each one calls for.
Connection Habit Tracker
A weekly tracker for small, deliberate moves toward people that compound over months.
Holiday Coping Plan
A worksheet for predicting and pre-deciding your responses to predictably hard moments during the holiday season.
Postpartum Mood Check-In
A weekly mood and support check-in worksheet for the first year postpartum.
Adolescent Mood Map
A teen-friendly worksheet for mapping daily mood and the activities and people connected to it.
Senior Wellbeing Audit
A reflection worksheet for older adults covering health, purpose, connection, and meaning.
Medication Adherence Plan
A planner for sustaining a medication routine, including barriers, supports, and re-start procedures after lapses.
Substance Use Trigger Map
A relapse-prevention worksheet for mapping substance-use triggers and pre-deciding alternative responses.
Recovery Capital Inventory
A reflection on the personal, social, and community resources you can draw on in recovery.
Pacing for Energy Conditions
A pacing worksheet for chronic fatigue and post-viral conditions, balancing activity and recovery.
Chronic Illness Identity Worksheet
A reflection on the identity work involved in living with a chronic illness diagnosis.
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.