Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Worksheet Template

A CBT therapy worksheet designed to help patients overcome negative thinking patterns.

By Jamie Frew on Mar 06, 2024.

Fact Checked by RJ Gumban.

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What is the cognitive behavioral therapy worksheets template?

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a specific type of psychological treatment that has been shown to effectively improve the quality of life and general functioning for individuals diagnosed with anxiety disorders, depression, substance addiction, eating disorders, and other mental illnesses. CBT treatments vary depending on the practitioner’s preferences and the specificities of what the patient is being treated for. Generally, however, CBT aims to help the patient and practitioner develop an understanding of the issue and create an effective treatment plan in response. Often, CBT will focus on changing problem thoughts and changing problem behaviors. This can be targeted by teaching the patient how to identify these problem thoughts/behaviors, and equipping them with skills that will help change these thoughts/behaviors. To assist your cognitive behavioral therapy practice elevate its clinical outcomes and improve its general workflow, we’ve created an intuitive and easy-to-use worksheet that is focused on assessing and changing patient thought patterns.

CBT therapy worksheets

Therapists use these free cognitive behavioral therapy worksheets to provide better CBT treatment to their clients. Check out the free resources below:

How to use this cognitive behavioral therapy worksheet template

Mental health therapists lead extremely busy lives, and any resources that they incorporate into their workflow should ideally simplify required tasks. This is exactly what our cognitive behavioral therapy worksheet aims to do. In order to apply it effectively within your business, simply follow these four steps:

Step One: Access the worksheet

We’ve included a link to the worksheet on this page, and all you have to do is click on the link and you’ll be taken directly to the document. From here, you can edit, save, or store the document as necessary. 

Step Two: Print or send the worksheet 

Our worksheet has been designed to be distributed to patients. If you choose to integrate it into a specific patient’s treatment plan, you’ll need to give the patient access to either a digital copy or a hard copy. If you want to do this digitally, simply save the worksheet onto your own device and then send it via a secure channel. 

Step Three: Use the completed worksheet 

After the patient has completed the worksheet, you should request for them to bring it into their next session. You can use the information that the patient has included in order to update the treatment plan and assess the progress that the patient has been making. 

Step Four: Store the worksheet securely 

Once you have used the worksheet in your session, you need to decide what to do with it. Worksheets can be a useful tool for tracking and assessing the progress a patient has made, so you may want to hold onto them. Because they contain PHI, you need to ensure that they are stored in a safe and secure way that protects patient confidentiality at all times.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Worksheets Template Example (sample)

To help you visualize what our worksheet template will look like once it has been filled in by a patient, we have included a sample. Although the specific information that is included in these worksheets will be dependent on a range of factors, including the disorder that is being treated and the severity of the disorder, this example should give you an insight into the structure of the worksheet.

Check out the CBT therapy worksheet Sample here:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Worksheets Example

Who Can Use This Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Worksheets Template?

Mental healthcare is a broad field that covers a very diverse range of different patients. Our worksheet has been designed to be suitable for as many of these providers as possible, including the following:

  • Psychologists
  • Counselors
  • Mental Health Therapists
  • Psychotherapists 
  • Psychiatrists 
  • Therapists 

Additionally, the cognitive behavioral therapy worksheet template can be used in the treatment of a range of different mental health afflictions:

  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Eating Disorders
  • Phobias
  • Sleeping Disorders
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Bipolar Disorder

While CBT isn’t designed to be a ‘cure’, it can significantly improve the symptoms of mental health disorders and help patients achieve better day-to-day functioning.

Why Is This Template Useful For Private Therapists?

Our worksheet has a range of different everyday uses for private therapists, including the following:

  • Timeliness: Private therapists lead busy lives and are often treating multiple patients at once. Our CBT worksheet template can help practitioners save time by quickly and easily accessing the resource and distributing it to the relevant patients. 
  • Organization: Staying organized can be difficult during busy periods, which is where useful worksheets come in handy. By having access to our CBT worksheet, you can improve your organizational skills. The worksheets are already structured and prepared, simply waiting for you to send them to your patients. 
  • Workflow: Improving your timeliness and organization will lead to an elevated workflow. As you integrate our worksheet into your day-to-day practice, you’ll notice an increase in productivity and the amount of work you complete.

Why Use Carepatron for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

In addition to offering a CBT worksheet template, Carepatron’s platform has a range of highly useful tools, all designed to simplify the administrative and clinical processes at your healthcare practice. Finding solutions that streamline workflow without compromising the quality of clinical outcomes should be a top priority for all healthcare businesses, and this is an area that Carepatron excels in. 

Carepatron is integrated with a range of other templates and tools that can help improve the outcomes of CBT. Therapists can store confidential information securely within the platform, and can save countless hours by using the voice-to-text transcription software. Carepatron has additional solutions, including medical billing, coding, appointment scheduling, online payments, a patient portal, telehealth, and mobile health tools. All of these have been designed in partnership with healthcare practitioners, helping to ensure that everyone’s needs are continuously being met. As the technology that is used in the healthcare industry continues to develop and change, jumping on board with the most recent and innovative solutions will help push your practice to the top. More importantly, these features will improve engagement, organization, communication, and clinical outcomes - what’s not to love?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy app
How much ‘homework’ should I give to my patients?
How much ‘homework’ should I give to my patients?

Commonly asked questions

How much ‘homework’ should I give to my patients?

Although using worksheets and exercises in-between sessions has advantages for patients, you don’t want to be assigning them too much work - the whole point of CBT is to equip patients with skills required to improve their day-to-day functioning. Asking patients to complete our CBT worksheet in-between sessions should be effective by itself. It will keep patient motivated and attentive, without requiring an excessive amount of work.

What is the end goal of CBT?

The end goal of every patient’s treatment will differ, but essentially the aim is to get patients to a stage where they are comfortable regulating their own behavior and emotions. CBT teaches patients how to identify, understand, and monitor behavioral and thinking patterns that may negatively influence their day-to-day life. If patients are able to complete this process without the assistance of a therapist, then the functioning of their everyday life will most likely improve, and they may no longer need to see a therapist.

How will I know if the CBT worksheet is effective?

Again, this is quite a difficult question to definitively answer, as it all depends on the nature of what the patient is being treated for. Nevertheless, if CBT itself is being effective, you should notice a change in the patient’s behavioral and thought patterns. The latter of these changes can be quite hard for a third-party to notice, which is where the CBT worksheet comes in. The worksheet will identify any problem thought patterns and how these have been monitored by the patient. If the worksheet is effective, you will notice firstly, that the patient is diligent and honest with the information they record and secondly, a reduction in the frequency and severity of problem thoughts.

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