Balancing Negative Thoughts Worksheet

Negative thoughts can control the way people perceive almost every aspect of their lives. They can cause people to think poorly of themselves, hold on to painful feelings, or make them feel helpless when dealing with stress. Without proper coping skills, negative thoughts can have a strong impact on a client’s mental health, and even affect their self-esteem or ability to make healthy decisions.

Learning how to balance negative thoughts is important for mental health. Balancing negative thoughts involves building a healthier perspective to reduce negative thought patterns. One way to balance negative thoughts is to consider the evidence that supports and challenges a negative thought to find a sound resolution.

About This Worksheet

With practice, a client in therapy can learn how to balance negative thoughts. This can help with reducing negative self-talk, unwanted feelings, and harmful behavior. The Balancing Negative Thoughts worksheet asks the client to consider the evidence supporting and challenging their negative thoughts about difficult situations. By learning how to challenge their negative thought, the client can draw a balanced conclusion.

The Balancing Negative Thoughts worksheet is excellent for clients participating in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It can be used with adolescents and adults and is best utilized in individual counseling settings.

Instructions

On the Balancing Negative Thoughts worksheet, the client is asked to record the negative thought that is troubling them. Then, they are asked follow-up questions about the evidence that supports and challenges their thought.

Introduce the worksheet to the client and explain how it can help with managing negative thoughts. Explain that you and the client will complete one row of the worksheet together, and they will be assigned the following rows as homework.

Complete the first question with the client, then allow them space to complete the rest of the questions themselves. You may assist the client if they are struggling.

When you and the client have completed the first row of questions, review the results with them. Start a dialog by asking questions, like:

• How do you feel after completing this exercise?
• How strongly do you believe the initial negative thought after considering the evidence and making a balanced thought?

Offer insight into how this method can help them when triggered by a negative thought. Assign this exercise to the client as homework to complete between sessions. Review their progress on the exercise during the next session.

References

Beck, J. S. (2020). Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Third Edition: Basics and Beyond. New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press.

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