Printable worksheets

Both are US Letter and designed to be filled in by hand during a session and taken home, or typed into on screen. Printed double-sided, each fits on one sheet, so nothing gets separated between sessions.

• Behavioral experiment recordTwo pages, US Letter. The plan on one side and the review on the other. Fillable PDF or printable PDF. In Spanish: fillable, printable.
• Step ladderTwo pages. Seven rungs and the goal on one side, a practice log on the other. Fillable PDF or printable PDF. In Spanish: fillable, printable.
• The seven steps, client guideOne page on the method, good to hand over with the first record. In Spanish.

Notes on using the record

Agree on the experiment in session. Most of the value is in steps 1 to 4, and those are the ones clients find hardest alone. Making the prediction observable and naming the safety behaviors together tends to be the bulk of the work. The experiment itself is often short.

Do the first version together where you can. Experiments that deliberately produce the feared outcome, such as saying something dull on purpose or letting a hand shake while holding a cup, are usually best done with you present and repeated alone afterward (Bennett-Levy et al., 2004).

Rate the prediction, not the anxiety. The form asks for belief in the prediction before and after. Distress ratings are there for ladder rungs and for beliefs that are about anxiety itself, and are otherwise best left blank, since self-monitoring is one of the processes under test (Wells & Papageorgiou, 1998).

Spend the review on the general lesson. “It went fine” is where most records stop. The form prompts three directions: what the outcome says about the belief, about how other people react, and about the client’s capacity to cope. The one-line “line to keep” at the end is meant to be reread, not filed.

Keep the next step close. A follow-up should not be much harder than the one just done. Repeating the same experiment in close succession, with small variations, produces more durable learning than a single large step (Craske et al., 2014).

How the app fits alongside therapy

The app is a self-guided version of the same worksheet. It is not a treatment, and its terms say so plainly to the user. What it can do for a client who is already seeing you is carry the plan out of the room, remind them when the experiment is due, keep a record of what happened, and bring it back.

Three features are built for that handoff.

• Session summary. One page per belief: the belief rating over time, each experiment in order with the result and the re-rating, the client’s own learning statement in quotes, what is planned next, and their notes. The client chooses the period, for example since the last summary, and shares it as a PDF from the app. Nothing reaches us. It goes wherever the client sends it.
• Full export. Every worksheet in full, as a printable PDF, for a client who wants to bring the whole record.
• The step ladder. Rungs rated for expected distress, each one plannable as an experiment, with a history under each rung of expected and actual distress on every repetition and a prompt to move up once a rung has been done twice.

The app’s Learn section carries the same nine articles that are on this site, in English and Spanish, each with its references. One can be assigned as reading before a session.

What the app does not do

• It does not screen, assess, or diagnose, and it makes no attempt to detect risk.
• It does not send you anything or notify you of anything. The client remains the only person with access to their record unless they share it.
• It does not store data on any server of ours.
• It will not stop a client from planning an experiment you would advise against, though the terms and the planning screen both say to defer to their clinician.

For clients whose beliefs concern trauma, medical risk, or self-harm, the articles direct them to work with a professional rather than alone, and the on-screen guidance repeats it.

In a group

Behavioral Experiment has free group materials for a single session or a four-session series, in English and Spanish.

What members do

• Turn a worry into a prediction they can test.
• Plan a small experiment and the safety behaviors they will set aside.
• Compare what they expected with what actually happened.

The 90-minute session and the series add an anonymous group survey for predictions about what other people think. The series also adds a step ladder.

What each guide covers

Timing, words you can use, discussion questions, and notes for inpatient units, intensive outpatient programs, substance use treatment, and outpatient groups. Each member gets a handout of their own.

Downloads

The PDFs are free to print and copy. The same materials are available in Spanish. For a series that carries one value through all four Everyday Insight tools, see the four-session skills group.

Sources

The worksheets follow the format in the Oxford Guide (Bennett-Levy et al., 2004; Rouf et al., 2004) and the seven steps in Warnock-Parkes et al. (2025). The ladder follows the Centre for Clinical Interventions’ stepladder modules, with Wolpe’s 0 to 100 distress scale. The research page lists every reference used across the site.

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Questions from clinicians are welcome at hello@behavioralexperiment.com. Everyday Insight LLC does not provide clinical services and cannot advise on individual clients.