Online step ladder

A step ladder, in your browser

When the best test of a fear is too big to attempt, break it into rungs. Name the goal, list situations that would bring on the worry, rate each one for how much distress you expect, and the page sorts them into a climb. Saves on this device only.

Saved on this device

A ladder is a planning tool, not a treatment. You choose which rungs to attempt and when, and you do so at your own risk. If you are working with a therapist, build it with them. If a step involves a real physical risk, a traumatic memory, or thoughts of harming yourself, do not work on it alone. Terms of use.

The goal at the top

What would you like to be able to do?Specific enough that you would know when you got there. "Eat lunch in the break room with colleagues twice a week," not "be more social." The fear the ladder is testingWhat do you predict will happen in these situations?

Add a rung

The situationSpecific enough to do: who, what, where, when, and for how long. Make a step easier or harder by changing one thing at a time: who is there, how many, how familiar, what you do, when, where, how long. Expected distress, 0 to 100 Moderate: distracting, still aware of what is happening

0 is perfectly relaxed. 25 to 49 is mild and manageable. 50 to 64 is moderate and distracting. 65 to 84 is high, with the urge to escape. 85 to 100 is overwhelming.

The ladder

Hardest at the top. Tick a rung each time you do it; repeat a rung until it feels solid before moving up. Any rung can be run as a full experiment: write it in as the situation, add a prediction, and drop a safety behavior.

No rungs yet. Aim for somewhere between five and ten, from nearly easy to the goal itself.

Saved in your browser's local storage on this device, and nowhere else. Ratings are yours; they only need to be consistent with each other so the ladder sorts into an order you recognize. Read about how ladders work. The app keeps a history under each rung and tells you when one feels solid enough to move up.