homework for cognitive behavioral therapy

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Worksheets and Exercises

The following Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – CBT worksheets and exercises can be downloaded free of charge for use by individuals undertaking NHS therapy or by NHS practitioners providing CBT in primary or secondary care settings. These worksheets form part of the Think CBT Workbook, which can also be downloaded as a static PDF at the bottom of this page. Please share or link back to our page to help promote access to our free CBT resources. 

The Think CBT workbook and worksheets are also available as an interactive/dynamic document that can be completed using mobile devices, tablets and computers. The interactive version of the workbook can be purchased for single use only for £25. All Think CBT clients receive a free interactive/dynamic copy of the workbook and worksheets free of charge.

Whilst these worksheets can be used to support self-help or work with other therapists, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is best delivered with the support of a BABCP accredited CBT specialist. If you want to book an appointment with a professionally accredited CBT expert, call (01732) 808626, complete the simple contact form on the right side of this page or email [email protected]  

Please note: if you are a private business or practitioner and wish to use our resources, please email [email protected]  to purchase a registered copy. This material is protected by UK copyright law. Please respect copyright ownership.

Exercise 1 - Problem Statements

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Exercise 2 - Goals for Therapy

Exercise 3 - personal strengths / resources, exercise 4 - costs / benefits of change, exercise 5 - personal values, exercise 6 - the cbt junction model, exercise 7 - the cross-sectional cbt model, exercise 8 - the longitudinal assessment, exercise 9 - layers of cognition, exercise 10 - cognitive distortions, exercise 11 - theory a-b exercise, exercise 12 - the cbt thought record, exercise 13 - cognitive disputation "putting your thoughts on trial", exercise 14 - the cbt continuum, exercise 15 - the self-perception continuum, exercise 16 - the cbt responsibility pie chart, exercise 17 - noticing the thought, exercise 18 - four layers of abstraction, exercise 19 - semantic satiation, exercise 20 - the characterisation game, exercise 21 - speed up / slow down, exercise 22 - word translation, exercise 23 - the time-traveller's log, exercise 23a -the time-traveller's log continued, exercise 24 - leaves on a stream, exercise 25 - the traffic, exercise 26 - clouds in the sky, exercise 27 - taming the ape - an anchoring exercise, exercise 28 - the abc form in functional analysis, exercise 29 - pace activity exercise, exercise 30 - graded hierachy of anxiety provoking situations, exercise 31 - the behavioural experiment, exercise 32 - act exposures exercise, exercise 33 - worry - thinking time, exercise 34 - submissive, assertive & aggressive communication, exercise 35 - sleep hygiene factors, exercises 36 - 38.

(Abdominal Breathing, Aware Breathing & The Five-Minute Daily Recharge Practice)

Exercise 39 - Wheel of Emotions

Exercise 40 - linking feelings and appraisals, exercise 41 - personal resilience plan, exercise 42 - cbt learning log, act with choice exercise, angels and devils worksheet, transdiagnostic model of ocd worksheet, tuning in exercise, penguin-based therapy (pbt), big picture exercise, post-therapy journal, catch it-check it-change it exercise.

A brief cognitive change exercise for identifying and altering negative thinking

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Download The Think CBT Workbook Here

To get a free copy of the 90 page Think CBT Workbook and Skills Primer, click on the download button and save the PDF document to your personal drive or device. The free version of the Think CBT Workbook is presented as a static PDF, so that you can read the document on your device and print worksheets to complete by hand.

In return for a free copy of the workbook, please help us to promote best practice in CBT by sharing this page or linking back to your website or social media profile.

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What Is Therapy Homework?

Sanjana is a health writer and editor. Her work spans various health-related topics, including mental health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness.

Dr. Sabrina Romanoff, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a professor at Yeshiva University’s clinical psychology doctoral program.

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Types of Therapy That Involve Homework

If you’ve recently started going to therapy , you may find yourself being assigned therapy homework. You may wonder what exactly it entails and what purpose it serves. Therapy homework comprises tasks or assignments that your therapist asks you to complete between sessions, says Nicole Erkfitz , DSW, LCSW, a licensed clinical social worker and executive director at AMFM Healthcare, Virginia.

Homework can be given in any form of therapy, and it may come as a worksheet, a task to complete, or a thought/piece of knowledge you are requested to keep with you throughout the week, Dr. Erkfitz explains.

This article explores the role of homework in certain forms of therapy, the benefits therapy homework can offer, and some tips to help you comply with your homework assignments.

Therapy homework can be assigned as part of any type of therapy. However, some therapists and forms of therapy may utilize it more than others.

For instance, a 2019-study notes that therapy homework is an integral part of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) . According to Dr. Erkfitz, therapy homework is built into the protocol and framework of CBT, as well as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) , which is a sub-type of CBT.

Therefore, if you’re seeing a therapist who practices CBT or DBT, chances are you’ll regularly have homework to do.

On the other hand, an example of a type of therapy that doesn’t generally involve homework is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. EMDR is a type of therapy that generally relies on the relationship between the therapist and client during sessions and is a modality that specifically doesn’t rely on homework, says Dr. Erkfitz.

However, she explains that if the client is feeling rejuvenated and well after their processing session, for instance, their therapist may ask them to write down a list of times that their positive cognition came up for them over the next week.

"Regardless of the type of therapy, the best kind of homework is when you don’t even realize you were assigned homework," says Erkfitz.

Benefits of Therapy Homework

Below, Dr. Erkfitz explains the benefits of therapy homework.

It Helps Your Therapist Review Your Progress

The most important part of therapy homework is the follow-up discussion at the next session. The time you spend reviewing with your therapist how the past week went, if you completed your homework, or if you didn’t and why, gives your therapist valuable feedback on your progress and insight on how they can better support you.

It Gives Your Therapist More Insight

Therapy can be tricky because by the time you are committed to showing up and putting in the work, you are already bringing a better and stronger version of yourself than what you have been experiencing in your day-to-day life that led you to seek therapy.

Homework gives your therapist an inside look into your day-to-day life, which can sometimes be hard to recap in a session. Certain homework assignments keep you thinking throughout the week about what you want to share during your sessions, giving your therapist historical data to review and address.

It Helps Empower You

The sense of empowerment you can gain from utilizing your new skills, setting new boundaries , and redirecting your own cognitive distortions is something a therapist can’t give you in the therapy session. This is something you give yourself. Therapy homework is how you come to the realization that you got this and that you can do it.

"The main benefit of therapy homework is that it builds your skills as well as the understanding that you can do this on your own," says Erkfitz.

Tips for Your Therapy Homework

Below, Dr. Erkfitz shares some tips that can help with therapy homework:

• Set aside time for your homework: Create a designated time to complete your therapy homework. The aim of therapy homework is to keep you thinking and working on your goals between sessions. Use your designated time as a sacred space to invest in yourself and pour your thoughts and emotions into your homework, just as you would in a therapy session .
• Be honest: As therapists, we are not looking for you to write down what you think we want to read or what you think you should write down. It’s important to be honest with us, and yourself, about what you are truly feeling and thinking.
• Practice your skills: Completing the worksheet or log are important, but you also have to be willing to put your skills and learnings into practice. Allow yourself to be vulnerable and open to trying new things so that you can report back to your therapist about whether what you’re trying is working for you or not.
• Remember that it’s intended to help you: Therapy homework helps you maximize the benefits of therapy and get the most value out of the process. A 2013-study notes that better homework compliance is linked to better treatment outcomes.
• Talk to your therapist if you’re struggling: Therapy homework shouldn’t feel like work. If you find that you’re doing homework as a monotonous task, talk to your therapist and let them know that your heart isn’t in it and that you’re not finding it beneficial. They can explain the importance of the tasks to you, tailor your assignments to your preferences, or change their course of treatment if need be.

"When the therapy homework starts 'hitting home' for you, that’s when you know you’re on the right track and doing the work you need to be doing," says Erkfitz.

A Word From Verywell

Similar to how school involves classwork and homework, therapy can also involve in-person sessions and homework assignments.

If your therapist has assigned you homework, try to make time to do it. Completing it honestly can help you and your therapist gain insights into your emotional processes and overall progress. Most importantly, it can help you develop coping skills and practice them, which can boost your confidence, empower you, and make your therapeutic process more effective.

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Conklin LR, Strunk DR, Cooper AA. Therapist behaviors as predictors of immediate homework engagement in cognitive therapy for depression . Cognit Ther Res . 2018;42(1):16-23. doi:10.1007/s10608-017-9873-6

Lebeau RT, Davies CD, Culver NC, Craske MG. Homework compliance counts in cognitive-behavioral therapy . Cogn Behav Ther . 2013;42(3):171-179. doi:10.1080/16506073.2013.763286

By Sanjana Gupta Sanjana is a health writer and editor. Her work spans various health-related topics, including mental health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness.