Thought Diary
3
A Activating Event
This may include an actual event or
situation, a thought, mental picture or
physical trigger.
B Beliefs
1. List all self-statements that link A to C. Ask you
rself: “What was I
thinking?” “What was I saying to myself?” “What was going through
my head at the time?”
2. Find the most distressing (hot) thought and mark it with an asterisk (*).
3. Rate how much you believe this thought between 0 to 100.
Unhelpful Thinking Styles
Do you recognise any unhelpful thinking styles you might have been
using? (Mental filter, jumping to conclusions, personalisation,
catastrophising, black & white thinking, shoulding & musting,
overgeneralisation, labelling, emotional reasoning, disqualifying/
ignoring positives)
C Consequences
1. Write down
words describing how you feel.
2. Mark the one that is most associated with the
activating event using an asterisk (*).
3. Rate the intensity of this feeling between 0 to
100.
4. Jot down any physical sensations you
experienced or actions carried out.
C
entre for
C
linical
I
nterventions
•Psychotherapy•Research•Training
This document is for information purposes only. Please refer to the full disclaimer and copyright statement available at
http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au regarding the information from this website before making use of such information.nf
See website www.cci.health.wa.gov.au for more handouts and resources.an
D Detective Work & Disputation
Detective Work:
Now refer to the hot thought, and ask yourself, “What is the factual evidence for and
against my hot thought?”
Disputation Questions:
Disputation:
Ask yourself the following questions ...
E End Result
Balanced Thoughts:
After looking at all the evidence for and against your hot thought, and having
considered the disputation questions, replace the hot thought with helpful, balanced thought/s.
Re
-rate Emotion:
Now, re-rate the emotion you underlined in C, from 0 to 100.
Re
-rate Hot Thought:
Read through Detective Work & Disputation. Now re-rate
how much you believe the hot thought, between 0 to 100.
My HOT Thought:
Factual Evidence For My HOT Thought Factual Evidence Against My HOT Thought
y
What other ways are there of viewing the situation?
y
If I were not feeling this way, how would I view the situation?
y
Realistically, what is the likelihood of that happening?
y
How might someone else view the situation?
y
Does it really help me to think this way?
y
Think of some helpful self-statements
C
entre for
C
linical
I
nterventions
•Psychotherapy•Research•Training
This document is for information purposes only. Please refer to the full disclaimer and copyright statement available at
http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au regarding the information from this website before
making use of such information.nf
See website www.cci.health.wa.gov.au for more handouts and resources.an