Free CBT Resources: Anxiety & Depression Worksheets and Information

The fight/flight response is the central theme of this two-page anxiety information sheet, with clear sections on how anxiety affects the physical, cognitive and behavioural systems. It explains common anxiety symptoms such as increased heart rate, changes in breathing, sweating, cold or tingling hands, muscle tension, dry mouth, nausea, blurred vision, difficulty concentrating and feeling keyed up after the danger has passed.

Adults and older teenagers experiencing anxious moods, panic-like sensations or ongoing worry may find it useful, especially when used with a counsellor, CBT therapist, mental health practitioner, GP, support worker or in a psychoeducation session. The sheet also covers restoration of the body after anxiety, biological and psychological causes, and a short summary that can help people understand anxiety symptoms without assuming they are going crazy or physically unsafe.

Print it for a CBT session, anxiety management appointment or personal coping folder when someone needs a straightforward explanation of why panic, fear and avoidance can feel self-perpetuating. The handout is especially suited to adults experiencing panic attacks, agoraphobia-style avoidance, health anxiety or general anxiety, as well as therapists, counsellors and mental health practitioners who want a concise psychoeducation handout to use in sessions.

The sheet explains the vicious cycle of anxiety, including scanning for danger, noticing physical anxiety symptoms, escaping or avoiding feared situations, and getting short-term relief that can make anxiety worse in the long term. It also covers safety behaviours such as relying on a phone, medication, an exit plan or another person, then introduces reversing the cycle through graded exposure, coping skills and gradually confronting feared situations without safety aids. Centre for Clinical Interventions is named on the handout.

Use it in CBT sessions, counselling appointments or personal mood tracking to map an upsetting situation with the ABC model: Activating Event, Beliefs and Consequences. The sheet asks the reader to record the situation like a video camera, rate the intensity of feelings from 0 to 100, note actions or avoidance behaviours, list the thoughts that were present and identify the hot thought most linked to the main emotion.

The content is most suited to adults or older teenagers receiving support for anxiety, depression, worry, panic, low mood or emotional distress, as well as therapists, counsellors and wellbeing practitioners teaching cognitive behavioural therapy skills. It also includes practical thought discovery questions such as what is bad about that, what do I see happening, and what does this say about me, helping users uncover underlying negative automatic thoughts before moving on to detective work and disputation.

Print it as a quick psychoeducation handout during CBT sessions, anxiety counselling, wellbeing work or personal reflection, especially when someone is learning to spot automatic negative thoughts. The sheet explains how unhelpful emotions such as anxiety or depression are often preceded by self-statements and thought patterns, then names common cognitive distortions in plain language.

The PDF covers mental filter, jumping to conclusions, personalisation, catastrophising, black and white thinking, shoulding and musting, overgeneralisation, labelling, emotional reasoning, and magnification and minimisation. It is most suited to adults, older teenagers, therapy clients, students in counselling or psychology training, and professionals who want a printable CBT thinking errors handout for sessions, group work or home practice. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

When someone is avoiding a BBQ, leaving early from a social event, or standing back because they predict rejection or embarrassment, this one-page CBT anxiety information sheet shows how to turn that fear into a behavioural experiment. It explains common negative predictions linked with anxiety, depression and low self-esteem, including overestimating danger, exaggerating how bad things will be, underestimating coping skills, and ignoring evidence that the outcome may be more balanced.

The sheet walks through planning and evaluating a behavioural experiment using a detailed social anxiety example. It includes prompts for identifying the belief to test, rating belief strength from 0 to 100, creating an alternative prediction, designing the experiment, anticipating problems, observing what happened, reviewing evidence, and re-rating the original and alternative beliefs. It may be useful for CBT practitioners, counsellors, mental health workers, students, and people using self-help tools to challenge anxious thoughts, negative thinking, avoidance, escape behaviours and safety behaviours.

In everyday anxiety work, situational exposure often needs to be broken into small, realistic steps so that feared situations feel more manageable. The PDF explains graded exposure, how avoidance can keep fears going, how to list situations that are being avoided, and how to rate distress from 0 to 100. It also introduces SMART goals and shows a worked example of an exposure ladder for going to a pub, moving from a lower-anxiety weekday visit to a more challenging weekend evening with friends.

Useful for adults experiencing social anxiety, avoidance, panic-related avoidance or situation-specific fears, it can also support CBT therapists, counsellors and mental health professionals in sessions. The handout gives practical prompts for planning exposure exercises by changing who is present, what happens, when and where it takes place, and how long it lasts. It also covers coping with anxiety, challenging negative thoughts, staying in the situation, avoiding alcohol or drugs as safety behaviours, repeating steps, handling setbacks, and using a diary to track expected distress, actual distress and outcomes. The Centre for Clinical Interventions is named on the sheet.

A quick one-page handout makes it easier to spot when coping strategies are actually maintaining anxiety rather than reducing it in the long term. Anxiety-Information-Sheet—07-What-are-Safety-Behaviours explains what safety behaviours are, why people use them, and how the purpose behind a behaviour matters more than the behaviour itself, using examples such as staying quiet in social situations, avoiding touching things in public, carrying a water bottle everywhere, and wearing headphones on public transport.

The sheet is likely to be useful for adults and older teenagers working on anxiety, panic, social anxiety, health anxiety, phobias or avoidance in CBT sessions, counselling, therapy homework or self-help. It can support conversations about exposure practice, testing fears, self-focused attention, self-fulfilling prophecies and the question, “How anxious would I feel if I could not do this?” Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

In a therapy session, GP appointment, wellbeing group or at home, this printable anxiety breathing retraining sheet can be used to introduce a straightforward calming breathing exercise without lots of jargon. It is particularly suited to adults and older teenagers experiencing anxiety, panic attacks, hyperventilation, breathlessness, dizziness or physical tension, as well as counsellors, CBT practitioners and mental health workers looking for a brief psychoeducation handout.

The sheet covers the link between anxiety and breathing rate, explains how overbreathing can lead to symptoms such as light-headedness, tingling, weakness and muscle stiffness, and then sets out a paced breathing practice using a 4-in, 2-hold, 6-out rhythm. It also includes practical breathing tips, such as starting with a 3-in, 1-hold, 4-out pattern if needed, using stomach breathing rather than chest breathing, and practising once or twice a day. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

Having a clear tense-and-release sequence makes it easier to practise progressive muscle relaxation without needing to remember each step. The PDF covers muscle tension linked with anxiety, stress and fear, preparation for relaxation, safety points around injuries and cramps, breathing, timing, and an 18-step relaxation sequence for the hands, arms, face, neck, shoulders, back, chest, stomach, hips, legs and feet.

It is likely to be most useful for adults or older teenagers who notice physical anxiety symptoms such as tight muscles, clenched teeth, sore shoulders, backaches or tension headaches, as well as counsellors, CBT practitioners and mental health workers introducing a practical PMR exercise in sessions. It can be printed as a relaxation handout, used as a home practice sheet, or followed slowly as a muscle relaxation script. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

Fight or flight is the central theme of this one-page anxiety and stress handout, linking common physical symptoms such as muscle tension, increased heart rate, fatigue, nausea, butterflies, poor concentration, sleep difficulties, irritability and anger. The sheet clearly separates stress from anxiety by describing stress as pressure from real or perceived demands that feel bigger than a person’s coping resources, while anxiety is explained as fear that may be normal in challenging situations or become problematic when it is out of proportion and leads to avoidance.

Useful for adults, older teenagers, counsellors, therapists, mental health practitioners and wellbeing staff, the handout can be printed for psychoeducation, used during therapy sessions, or shared as a take-home reminder. It covers how to manage stress by identifying stressors, problem solving and reviewing coping resources, and how to manage anxiety by surfing the wave of emotion, re-evaluating threat, approaching feared situations and using de-arousal strategies to calm the body.

The stress management tips section sets out eight practical steps, including identifying stressors, building in regular exercise, eating and sleeping well, making time for friends and recreation, using problem-solving techniques, practising controlled breathing and progressive muscle relaxation, seeking help with assertiveness and communication skills, and noticing negative thinking patterns. The sheet also lists common sources of stress, such as work-related issues, study demands, relationships, illness, major life changes and positive events that still create pressure.

Suitable for adults, older teens, counselling clients, student wellbeing services and people looking for a printable stress handout, the PDF can be used as a quick psychoeducation tool in CBT, mental health support, coaching, supervision or self-help at home. It helps people link stress symptoms, such as irritability, interrupted sleep, anxiety, headaches, stomach upset, appetite changes, chest pains and lowered immunity, with practical coping strategies they can choose and practise.

Greater confidence to use physical activity as part of anxiety management is the main support offered here. The one-page anxiety information sheet explains the research link between exercise, mental health, anxiety and depression, then sets out why exercise can add to CBT, counselling or medication. It notes that different forms of movement, including brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling and yoga, can be useful, so readers do not need to attend a gym.

The handout is likely to suit adults experiencing anxiety symptoms or an anxiety disorder, as well as therapists, counsellors, wellbeing practitioners and support workers wanting a quick printable psychoeducation handout for sessions or home use. It includes practical prompts for fitting activity into everyday routines, WHO adult exercise guidance of 75 to 150 minutes a week depending on intensity, SMART-style goal setting, and a gentle getting-started message focused on choosing an activity, making arrangements and taking the first step. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

Adults, teenagers, health professionals and clients preparing for injections, blood tests, vaccinations or other medical procedures may find this needle phobia information sheet useful. It covers the common symptoms of a fear of needles, including panic sensations, urges to escape, raised heart rate, trembling, breathlessness and distress triggered by seeing, thinking about or waiting for a needle.

The sheet also explains why fainting can happen with needle phobia, including the two-stage blood pressure and heart rate response, and outlines possible causes such as past difficult experiences, learned fear, anxious predictions, disgust images and worry about fainting. It can be used in therapy, medical settings, student learning or at home as a simple handout to support discussion before planning gradual steps towards overcoming needle fear.

In a clinic appointment, counselling session or at home before a blood test, Anxiety Information Sheet 14: Overcoming Needle Phobia can help adults and older teenagers understand practical ways to manage fear of needles, injection anxiety, vaccination anxiety and blood test phobia. It explains how phobias are maintained by anxious predictions, avoidance and safety behaviours, then introduces coping strategies such as applied muscle tension for people who faint or worry about fainting, mindfulness of physical sensations, and checking unhelpful thoughts against more balanced evidence.

The handout also includes a graded exposure hierarchy with example steps, moving from looking at cartoon drawings and photos of needles through to watching injections, holding a capped needle, practising with an orange, having blood taken and receiving an immunisation. It is likely to be useful for therapists, healthcare professionals, parents supporting anxious teens, and individuals preparing for injections who need a printable needle phobia worksheet with clear exposure tips, including staying in the situation, repeating steps, using support people wisely and handling setbacks.

Adults, older teenagers, university students and therapy clients who want a plain English CBT for anxiety handout may find this information sheet useful before, during or after counselling sessions. It explains the difference between fear and anxiety, outlines why psychological therapy is commonly used for anxiety disorders, and describes cognitive behaviour therapy as an evidence-based treatment that helps people manage anxious thoughts, avoidance behaviours and anxiety symptoms.

The sheet is organised into clear sections on cognitive therapy, behaviour therapy, and CBT as a combined approach. It covers unhelpful predictions, catastrophic thinking, beliefs about coping, avoidance cycles, exposure therapy, behavioural experiments, attention training, breathing retraining and structured problem-solving, making it suitable for psychoeducation, mental health appointments, wellbeing work, or printing as a brief client handout.

Print it for psychoeducation in therapy sessions, mental health appointments, student support work or at home when an adult, teenager or family member needs a straightforward overview of anxiety disorders and related anxiety problems. The handout is especially suited to people who are trying to understand symptoms, compare different types of anxiety, or prepare to speak with a GP, counsellor, psychologist or mental health professional.

The PDF describes specific phobia, social anxiety, generalised anxiety and worry, panic disorder with agoraphobia, health anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, with examples such as fear of needles, “what if” worry, panic attacks, reassurance seeking and compulsive checking. It also notes that anxiety can appear alongside stress, PTSD, insomnia, eating disorders and depression, and encourages seeking an accurate diagnosis and support. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

The eight-question credibility checklist is the practical core of this media literacy PDF, prompting readers to ask whether information is written by a qualified expert, linked to a trustworthy organisation, free from commercial interests, backed by evidence, consistent with other reliable sources and up to date. It also explains how search phrases can create biased results, using examples such as social media and depression, then suggests more balanced searches and alternative viewpoints.

Designed as a printable anxiety information sheet, it is likely to suit adults, young people, counsellors, therapists, wellbeing staff and educators who want a clear handout on evaluating online information, misinformation, health claims, news stories and social media content. It could be used in therapy sessions, psychoeducation groups, classrooms or at home to support critical thinking, reduce reassurance-seeking spirals, and help people make more measured decisions about what they read online.

Greater confidence in coping with anxiety symptoms is the main aim of this one-page anxiety surfing handout, which explains how anxious arousal rises, peaks and gradually reduces like a wave. It is especially suited to adults and older teenagers working on panic, social anxiety, avoidance, fear of body sensations, or exposure practice with a counsellor, CBT therapist, mental health practitioner, support worker, or as part of guided self-help.

The sheet covers what happens when people try to fight anxiety through escaping, avoiding, or using safety behaviours such as distraction, alcohol or substances, then sets out five practical anxiety surfing steps: acknowledge, observe, accept, remain and be patient. It also includes coping imagery examples, such as surfing a giant wave into shore or watching a dark cloud pass, making it useful as a printable anxiety management tool for therapy sessions, wellbeing appointments, recovery work, or home practice. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

Urge surfing and the Stop, Drop or Delay approach are the central skills in Anxiety Information Sheet 20: Reducing Reassurance-Seeking, a one-page anxiety handout for people who repeatedly ask for reassurance, confirmation, checking or approval when worried. It explains what reassurance-seeking is, why it can feel so compelling, and when it becomes unhelpful, covering anxiety, fear of judgement, uncertainty, short-lived relief, indecision and relationship strain.

The handout maps the vicious cycle of reassurance-seeking, showing how asking others can bring brief relief while increasing anxiety, dependence, relationship stress and reduced confidence over time. It is likely to be most useful for adults and older teenagers in CBT, counselling or mental health support, as well as partners, family members and practitioners who want a shared language for reducing repeated reassurance, practising uncertainty tolerance and building independent decision-making.

Everyday conversations around anxiety, OCD worries, health anxiety, body image concerns or chronic worry can easily turn into repeated checking, asking and reassurance giving. Anxiety Information Sheet 19: Reassurance Seeking Carers explains what reassurance-seeking is, why people do it, when it becomes unhelpful, and how the cycle can affect both the person asking and the loved one trying to help.

The handout is especially suited to carers, partners, parents, adult family members, friends and practitioners supporting someone who repeatedly asks for reassurance. It covers open communication, responding differently, not giving reassurance in a harsh or dismissive way, validating feelings, reminding the person of coping strategies such as Stop, Drop, Delay, and looking after your own distress. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

A quick printable handout helps people understand safer ways to use artificial intelligence for mental health learning, planning and self-help without treating it as therapy, diagnosis or crisis support. It explains what AI is, how tools such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot work in broad terms, and why AI can sound human while still being unable to think, feel or provide genuine care.

Sections cover helpful uses such as practical problem solving, breaking tasks into smaller steps, exposure planning, routines, journalling prompts and simplifying therapy notes or self-help material. It also flags common risks, including hallucinations, inaccurate answers, bias, reassurance seeking, over-reliance, privacy concerns and using AI for emotional validation. It is likely to suit adults, young people, therapy clients, counsellors, psychologists, GPs, support workers and educators who want a clear AI mental health handout to discuss in sessions, groups, clinics or at home. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

Learners can build a clearer picture of how anxiety shows up for them by sorting symptoms into body responses, thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The worksheet explains the four categories of anxiety symptoms, including examples such as shortness of breath, chest tightness, lightheadedness, worries that other people will notice, fears that something bad might happen, anxiety or fear, and avoidance such as not going out or only going places with trusted people.

The layout is simple and session-friendly, with lined spaces under the headings physiological, cognitive, affective and behavioural. It is likely to suit adults, teenagers and older young people who are beginning CBT, anxiety counselling, panic work, social anxiety support or self-help reflection, as well as therapists, counsellors, social workers and wellbeing staff looking for a printable anxiety symptoms worksheet to use in assessment, formulation or psychoeducation.

Adults, teenagers, clients in therapy, and practitioners supporting anxiety, panic, stress, or hyperventilation symptoms are the most likely users of this printable breathing rate record sheet. It provides spaces to record breaths per minute at 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m., with before and after columns so the person can compare their breathing rate around a calming breathing exercise.

The page explains how to count breathing while sitting or standing quietly, when to wait after physical activity, and how to practise low, slow breathing with one hand on the stomach and one on the chest. It also includes a structured calming technique using a 4-second inhale, 2-second pause, and 6-second exhale, making it useful as an anxiety worksheet, breathing diary, relaxation exercise log, or CBT-style monitoring tool. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

Everyday relaxation practice is easier to review when there is a clear record of what was tried, where it happened, and how tense or calm the person felt before and after. Anxiety Worksheet 03 Monitoring Relaxation is a printable anxiety and relaxation worksheet with a 0 to 10 rating scale, running from most relaxed to most tense or anxious, plus space to note the date, time, comments and reactions.

The prompts encourage reflection on which parts of the body relaxed easily, what physical sensations were noticed, whether the mind felt relaxed, and what calming images were most helpful. It is likely to suit adults, teenagers, counsellors, CBT practitioners and wellbeing workers who want a straightforward relaxation diary, anxiety tracking sheet or therapy homework tool for use between sessions, at home, or during skills practice. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

Print it before a graded exposure task and use the table to record the step or situation, the expected SUDS score from 0 to 100, the actual anxiety rating, and the skills used to stay with the situation.

Designed for people following a CBT anxiety stepladder, it is especially suited to adults or older teenagers working with a therapist, counsellor or mental health practitioner on situational exposure, avoidance reduction, panic or social anxiety practice. The prompts also leave space to note difficulties, why an exposure felt hard, and what to prepare before trying the next step.

Adults, older teenagers, counsellors, CBT practitioners and mental health workers using depression worksheets may find this particularly relevant when working on the thought-feeling connection. The pages use everyday examples, such as coming home to muddy footprints, being surprised on a birthday, a flatmate moving out without paying rent, and a partner cancelling dinner, to help clients notice how different interpretations can lead to anger, hurt, disappointment, concern, happiness or self-criticism.

The worksheet is split into two parts: first, identifying possible feelings that arise from given self-statements, and then writing the self-statements that could lead to specific feelings. It can be printed for therapy sessions, used as CBT homework, or worked through in supported self-help to practise recognising automatic thoughts, cognitive appraisals, negative self-talk, emotional triggers and alternative ways of making sense of situations.

In a therapy session, counselling appointment or self-help routine, this printable CBT thought diary gives adults and older teenagers a clear ABC framework for understanding low mood, distress, anxiety or depression-related thinking. The page is divided into three sections: A for the activating event, B for beliefs and self-statements, and C for consequences, including feelings, body sensations and actions.

People using CBT for depression can use the worksheet to write down what happened, list the thoughts that connected the event to their feelings, mark the most distressing hot thought with an asterisk, and rate belief and emotion intensity from 0 to 100. It is particularly suited to therapists, counsellors, mental health practitioners and individuals practising cognitive behavioural therapy between sessions. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

A clear ABCD layout helps people slow down and separate what happened from what they believed, felt and did. The printable thought diary includes sections for the activating event, beliefs and self-statements, unhelpful thinking styles, consequences, physical sensations and actions, followed by detective work and disputation for the main hot thought.

People using CBT for depression, low mood, anxiety, stress or negative automatic thoughts can use it at home, between therapy sessions, or with a counsellor, psychologist, mental health practitioner or support worker. Prompts encourage the person to rate belief in a distressing thought, identify cognitive distortions such as catastrophising or black and white thinking, weigh factual evidence for and against the thought, and create more helpful self-statements.

In therapy sessions, counselling appointments or structured self-help, this CBT thought diary can help adults and older teenagers slow down a distressing moment and map it clearly. It uses the ABCDE format: Activating Event, Beliefs, Consequences, Detective Work and Disputation, and End Result. Prompts ask the person to identify the situation, list self-statements, mark the most distressing hot thought, rate belief from 0 to 100, name emotions, note physical sensations or actions, and recognise unhelpful thinking styles such as catastrophising, mental filter, jumping to conclusions, black and white thinking, shoulding and musting, emotional reasoning and disqualifying positives.

The second page gives a practical evidence table for and against the hot thought, followed by disputation questions such as alternative ways of viewing the situation, realistic likelihood, how someone else might see it, and whether the thought is helpful. It then asks the user to write balanced thoughts and re-rate both the emotion and the hot thought. The layout is most suited to CBT practitioners, counsellors, psychologists, wellbeing workers and clients using depression worksheets, cognitive restructuring tools, thought records or mood diary exercises. The Centre for Clinical Interventions is named on the sheet.

In a therapy room, group mood management course, or supported self-help session, Depression-Worksheet—09—Thought-Diary-Tri-fold gives adults and older teenagers a structured CBT thought record for working through distress linked with depression, low mood, anxiety, worry, anger or self-critical thinking. It follows the familiar A-B-C-D-E format, with prompts for the activating event, consequences, beliefs, disputation and a final balanced thought.

The worksheet asks the person to describe the situation like a video camera, name and rate the emotion, note actions or physical sensations, list automatic thoughts, identify the most distressing “hot thought”, check evidence for and against it, spot unhelpful thinking styles such as catastrophising, mind reading, all-or-nothing thinking and should statements, then re-rate the emotion and belief. It is most suited to counsellors, CBT therapists, mental health practitioners and people doing mood management work who want a printable thought diary, cognitive restructuring worksheet or depression CBT exercise produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.

The monitoring table prompts the person to write down the feared prediction, plan an experiment, identify what evidence would show the prediction was true, record the actual outcome, and reflect on what they learned. It also includes space to rate predicted distress and actual distress from 0 to 100, making it useful as an anxiety tracking sheet, behavioural experiment worksheet, CBT thought testing form or exposure exercise record.

Designed for real-life practice between or during sessions, the worksheet reminds users to expect anxiety, stay with the situation, avoid anxiety-reducing safety behaviours unless planned, and record whether the feared outcome actually happened. It is most suited to people doing CBT for anxiety, panic, social anxiety, phobias or avoidance patterns, with support from therapists, psychologists, counsellors or mental health workers. Produced by the Centre for Clinical Interventions.