Online worksheet

A behavioral experiment, in your browser

The same seven steps as the app, with the guidance beside each one. It saves as you type, in this browser on this device only. Nothing is sent anywhere. When you are done, print it or save it as a PDF.

Saved on this device

Before you begin. This is a worksheet for reflection and planning, not therapy or medical advice, and it cannot tell whether a belief is one you should work on alone. If the belief concerns a traumatic memory, a real medical risk, or thoughts of harming yourself, work on it with a professional instead. You decide whether to carry out any experiment, and you do so at your own risk. If you have a therapist, plan it with them. Terms of use.

1. The belief to test

Write it as a predictionIf I do or stop doing something, then this specific thing will happen. The more concrete, the easier it is to test. How much do you believe it right now?Go with your gut. You will rate it again afterwards.

70%

A more balanced alternative Optional. If part of you suspects a different outcome, write it here.

2. Choose the situation

What will you do, where, and with whom?The best test of this belief that you are willing to try now. Keep it small and specific. When? Optional. Setting a date and time makes it more likely you will follow through.

3. Say what you expect to see

What is the worst you think will happen?Describe it as something you could see or hear, not a feeling. Try the form: if I do this, then that will happen. How would you know it came true?What would you see, hear, or count? Feeling awkward does not count. How likely does it feel right now?

60%

4. Decide what to leave out

Safety behaviors are the things you do to prevent the feared outcome. They feel helpful, but they stop you from finding out whether the fear is true. Tap the ones you will leave out this time, or add your own.

You will leave out Where will your attention go?Fear pulls attention inward, onto your body and how you sound. Decide what you will watch instead. What could get in the way? Optional. Name the likely snag and what you will do about it, including the urge to back out. Track expected and actual distress Only when the belief is about anxiety itself, or this is a step on a ladder. Otherwise keep your attention outward.

5. Do it, and watch. Drop the safety behaviors, keep your attention outward, and stay until the prediction has actually been tested, not until the urge to leave peaks. Then come back and fill in the rest.

6. Record what happened

What actually happened?Facts first. What did you do, and what did other people actually do or say? Write what a camera would have recorded. Did the prediction come true?

How likely does the prediction feel now?Knowing what you know now, how likely is it that the feared outcome would happen next time?

30%

How much do you believe the original belief now?A drop of even ten or twenty points is progress.

40%

7. What it tells you

What does this tell you more generally?Go beyond "it did not happen this time." Stuck? Tap a question.

A line to keepOne sentence you can reread the next time the worry shows up. What is the next step?Listen for the "yes, but". That doubt is the next experiment. Repeat this one to rule out luck, scale it up, or test the new doubt directly.

Everything on this page is saved in your browser's local storage on this device, and nowhere else. Clearing your browser data removes it. Saving a PDF after each review is the safest way to keep a record. Want reminders, a ladder, and a history across experiments? The app does that. Read about how experiments work.

A behavioral experiment, in your browser

1. The belief to test

2. Choose the situation

3. Say what you expect to see

4. Decide what to leave out

6. Record what happened

7. What it tells you

What changed