Track worries as they occur, classify them, practise postponing hypothetical worries to a designated worry period, and record outcomes.
When you notice yourself worrying, jot it down here. Classify whether it's practical or hypothetical. If it's hypothetical, practise postponing it to your designated worry period (e.g. 5:00–5:15pm). Note whether you successfully postponed and what happened — most postponed worries feel less urgent by the time the worry period arrives.
Use during the early and middle phases of treatment to help clients develop awareness of their worry patterns, triggers, and maintaining factors. Particularly useful for clients who report worrying constantly but struggle to identify specific worry episodes.
Explain that the log is not about solving worries but about noticing them as mental events. Emphasise curiosity over judgement and frame it as a data-gathering exercise to understand the worry pattern better.
For clients who find real-time monitoring difficult, a brief end-of-day retrospective log can be a helpful starting point. Reduce the number of columns if the full format feels overwhelming initially.
Avoid extended use if the client begins using the log as a form of reassurance-seeking or if monitoring appears to increase rumination rather than build metacognitive awareness.
Review the log collaboratively in session to identify patterns such as time-of-day effects, common triggers, and the relationship between worry duration and perceived controllability. Use the data to inform whether the worry is predominantly Type 1 or Type 2.
Suitable for clients working with worry diary, gad, cbt, metacognitive, wells, worry postponement, stimulus control. This tool can be used as a standalone worksheet or as part of a structured homework plan.
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Identify and challenge negative beliefs about worry — the beliefs that worry is uncontrollable or dangerous.
Track Attention Training Technique (ATT) practice sessions with focus ratings and observations.
Practise noticing and tolerating everyday uncertainty to build your tolerance muscle.
A formulation based on Wells' metacognitive model of GAD — mapping the role of positive and negative beliefs about worry in maintaining the worry cycle.