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Review evidence for and against a core belief across different life periods — childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Core beliefs feel true partly because we selectively attend to confirming evidence and discount disconfirming evidence across our whole lives. This worksheet helps you systematically review each life period for evidence both for AND against the belief.
Use in the cognitive restructuring phase of schema therapy to systematically examine the evidence for and against early maladaptive schemas across the lifespan. This technique helps weaken schema-consistent beliefs by identifying overlooked contradictory evidence.
Explain that schemas act as filters, making the client notice and remember information that confirms the schema while dismissing contradictory evidence. Frame the review as a thorough investigation — like a detective examining all the evidence, not just the prosecution's case.
For clients with limited autobiographical memory (common in trauma histories), use schema-relevant themes rather than specific memories. For those who struggle to generate contradictory evidence, use Socratic questioning and interpersonal evidence from the therapeutic relationship.
Proceed carefully if the historical review is likely to surface traumatic memories the client is not prepared to process. Ensure appropriate trauma stabilisation is in place first. This is a cognitive technique — it should not be used as a substitute for experiential/emotional processing work.
Structure the review by life period (childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, recent). For each period, examine evidence that supports the schema AND evidence that contradicts it. Clients typically find schema-confirming evidence easily but struggle with contradictory evidence — this is the schema bias in action. Therapist-guided exploration of contradictions is usually necessary.
Suitable for clients working with schema, historical evidence, core beliefs, cbt, personality, life review. This tool can be used as a standalone worksheet or as part of a structured homework plan.
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Identify recurring patterns across relationships — mapping what triggers the pattern, what you expect, what you do, and the outcome.
Track schema activations — when old patterns get triggered, what mode you went into, and what you could do differently.
Create coping flashcards that capture a triggering situation, the old unhelpful response, and a new, more adaptive response — for quick reference in difficult moments.
A longitudinal formulation mapping early experiences, core beliefs (schemas), coping strategies, and current patterns — the foundation for schema-focused work.