The four areas model is a central part of the workbook, with a worked example showing how stress can affect thoughts, physical symptoms, emotions and behaviour. The example follows “Julie”, who notices thoughts such as “I can’t cope”, physical signs like tiredness and headaches, feelings of guilt and stress, and behaviours such as worrying more, stopping the gym and staying longer at work.
Early pages introduce the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approach behind the webinar, explaining how CBT focuses on the here and now and breaks difficulties into smaller parts. It outlines key areas including situations, thoughts, feelings, physical symptoms and behaviour or activity levels, making it useful for people who want a straightforward CBT stress worksheet rather than a long reading pack.
A section on what stress is describes the experience of feeling overloaded when demands feel greater than the ability to cope. The workbook also lists common life events that can contribute to stress, including work pressure, financial worries, illness, family arguments, moving house, unemployment, bereavement, pregnancy, retirement and relationship changes.
Practical prompts invite the person using the booklet to list current causes of stress and then complete their own stress cycle. Boxes labelled “I think”, “I notice symptoms of”, “Emotionally I feel”, “I am” and “I am avoiding” help organise personal experiences in a way that could be used during a webinar, therapy session, wellbeing appointment or at home before speaking with a practitioner.
Adults looking for stress management worksheets, CBT self-help materials or a simple printable anxiety and stress workbook may find the layout easy to follow. The booklet is branded by steps2wellbeing and NHS Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust.
