A thought record is a worksheet from cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, for looking closely at one upsetting moment. You write down the facts of what happened, what you felt, and what went through your mind. Then you pick the hot thought, the one most tied to your strongest feeling, weigh the evidence for and against it, and write a balanced thought that takes both sides into account. Where the record came from. Why it’s also called a thought log or thought diary.

The nine steps at a glance

1. Situation. The facts of one specific moment, as a camera would have caught them.
2. Feelings. Each one named and rated for strength.
3. Thoughts and images. What went through your mind, written as statements.
4. Hot thought. The thought most tied to your strongest feeling, rated for belief.
5. Evidence for. Facts that support the hot thought.
6. Evidence against. Facts that don’t fit it, or suggest it isn’t the whole story.
7. Balanced thought. A view that takes both lists into account, rated for belief.
8. Feelings now. The same feelings, rated again.
9. What I learned. What you noticed, and a small next step.

Before you start

Pick one moment from today or yesterday when your mood changed. Sooner is better, because the exact words of a thought fade quickly. If you can’t sit down right away, jot down what happened, what you felt, and the thought, then finish later the same day.

Choose something that bothered you but isn’t the hardest thing in your life. Records are a skill, and like any skill they’re easier to learn on medium-sized problems.

A record holds two kinds of writing. The situation and the evidence are facts, so try to be objective there, the way a fair observer who saw the whole thing would tell it. The feelings and thoughts are yours, so write them honestly, just as they came, even if they don’t seem reasonable. Keeping the two apart is what lets you check the thought against what actually happened.

1. Situation

Describe one specific moment, sticking to the facts: where you were, who was there, what happened. “Tuesday, 2 p.m., at my desk. Nobody had answered my message in the group chat after an hour.” Not “my week has been awful.”

Try to be objective here. Write what a camera would have caught, without the meaning you gave it. That meaning goes in step 3. The situation can also be inside you, like a memory, a body sensation, or a thought that came out of nowhere.

2. Feelings

Name each feeling, usually in one word, and rate how strong it was at the time from 0 to 100. A 0 to 10 scale works just as well if it comes more naturally, and the worksheet and app offer both. The feelings wheel helps when “bad” or “upset” is as far as you can get.

3. Thoughts and images

Write down what went through your mind, as it came, one thought per line. Include pictures and memories. If you’re not sure, ask what you were afraid might happen, what it seemed to say about you, or what you thought other people were thinking.

4. Hot thought

Choose the one thought most tied to your strongest feeling, or to the feeling you most want to work on. It’s usually the one that best explains why that feeling was so strong. Rate how much you believe it right now. The rest of the record works on this thought alone.

If the feeling was at 90 and the thought you picked is mild, like “I was late,” there is probably a hotter thought underneath, like “now they see I’m unreliable.” Ask what the thought would mean about you, your future, or how others see you if it were true.

You can also note whether the thought fits a familiar pattern, such as mind reading or catastrophizing. The thinking styles page lists twelve. Naming one can help you step back, but it doesn’t prove the thought wrong.

5. Evidence for

List the facts that support the hot thought. Be fair to it. Your feelings made sense for a reason, and writing that reason down honestly makes the next column more believable.

6. Evidence against

List the facts that don’t support the thought, or suggest it isn’t the whole story. Hold them to the same standard as the last step. Reassuring words like “I’m a good person” don’t count unless something that happened backs them up. This is usually the hardest step, because a strong feeling narrows what you notice. These questions help:

• What else could explain what happened? Try for two or three possibilities.
• Has something like this happened before? How did it actually turn out?
• If someone who cares about me saw the whole thing, what would they point out?
• What would I say to a friend who told me this had happened to them?
• Am I leaving anything out because it doesn’t fit the thought?
• What’s the worst that could realistically happen? The best? The most likely?
• If the worst did happen, what could I do, and who could help?

Sometimes, looking honestly, the evidence mostly supports the thought. That’s worth knowing. In step 7, write what is true and what you can do about it.

7. Balanced thought

Write a thought that takes both lists into account. It isn’t the opposite of the hot thought and it doesn’t need to be positive. It needs to be something you can believe. Many balanced thoughts hold two things at once, joined by “and” or “even though.”

Rate how much you believe it. Even a thought you only partly believe can ease a feeling a little, and the more you believe it, the more it tends to help.

If the evidence mostly supported the hot thought, say plainly what’s true, notice what the thought adds that the evidence doesn’t back up, like “forever” or “it’s all my fault,” and end with what would help. That might be a plan for what can be changed, or a way to accept and look after yourself around what can’t.

8. Feelings now

Rate the same feelings again, as they are now. Any drop counts, even a small one. Some feeling usually stays, because the situation still matters to you.

If nothing moved, that’s information. The hot thought may not have been the one driving the feeling, an older belief may sit underneath, or the situation may call for action more than a new thought.

9. What I learned

Look back over the record. What did you notice about the thought, the feelings, or the link between them? Is there one small, specific thing you’ll do next? “Text Priya tonight if there’s still no reply” beats “be less anxious.”

The mistakes that stall a record

Most records that go nowhere trip on one of a few things. The situation is a whole week instead of one moment. A thought ends up in the feelings column, or a question sits where a statement should be. The hot thought is a mild one while the feeling was at 90. Guesses get listed as evidence, or the evidence for gets skipped, so the balanced thought feels like spin. The balanced thought is an affirmation you rate at 10. Or the record gets written days later, when the exact thought is gone.

And expecting the feeling to reach zero makes a good record look like a failed one. Partial change is the usual, useful result.

How often

Therapists often suggest one a day for a couple of weeks, or one whenever a strong feeling shows up. Research on CBT homework suggests that how carefully the practice is done matters too, not only how much of it gets done.

Over time, read your hot thoughts side by side. The same themes often come up in different situations, and that is worth understanding, ideally with a therapist. The article on beliefs underneath explains why.

When to stop and get help

If the same worry keeps coming back however many times you examine it, or you feel you have to fill in a record before you can feel okay, the record may be feeding the problem. If the thoughts are about a trauma, this work goes better with a professional who can pace it with you. Please talk with one. More on when a record isn’t the right tool.

If you’re thinking about suicide or about harming yourself or someone else, call or text 988 in the United States, or your local emergency number.