Thought records
A thought record is a structured way to slow down one upsetting moment and look at the thinking inside it. You write down what happened, what you felt, what went through your mind, and then you weigh the thought that hit hardest against the evidence. It’s one of the most widely used tools in cognitive behavioral therapy.
Where it came from
The first version appeared in 1979 in Cognitive Therapy of Depression by Aaron Beck and colleagues. It had five columns: the situation, the emotions with a rating of how strong they were, the automatic thoughts with a rating of how much they were believed, a more rational response with a rating of how much it was believed, and the outcome, where the thoughts and the emotions were rated again. So even the first version asked people to check whether anything had changed.
Since then, thought records have become a long-established CBT method, taught in many versions. Many follow the same basic sequence, and this one does too. The best-known version is the 7-Column Thought Record that Christine Padesky developed in the late 1970s and later published in Mind Over Mood, the book she wrote with Dennis Greenberger. It was the first to split the evidence into two columns, evidence that supports the hot thought and evidence that doesn’t, so that the new thought grows out of the facts instead of being produced on demand.
This app has nine steps, with a separate step to pick the hot thought and one at the end to note what you learned. Its wording, examples, and layout were written for Everyday Insight, which has no affiliation with Padesky, Greenberger, or Mind Over Mood.
The nine steps
- Situation. The facts of one specific moment. Where you were, who was there, what happened. Try to be objective and stick to what a camera would have caught.
- Feelings. Name each one, usually in a word, and rate how strong it was.
- Thoughts and images. Everything that went through your mind, written as statements.
- Hot thought. The one most tied to your strongest feeling. Rate how much you believe it.
- Evidence for. Facts that support the hot thought. Be fair to it.
- Evidence against. Facts that don’t support it, or suggest it isn’t the whole story.
- Balanced thought. A thought that takes both lists into account, rated for how much you believe it.
- Feelings now. The same feelings, rated again.
- What I learned. What you noticed, and anything you’ll do next.
Doing it well
Do it soon. Details fade quickly, especially the exact wording of the thought. If you can’t do the whole thing, get the first three parts down and finish the same day.
Pick one moment. “My whole week” is too big. “Tuesday at two, when nobody answered in the group chat” is the right size.
Be objective about what happened, honest about the rest. The situation and the evidence should be facts, told the way a fair observer would tell them. The feelings and thoughts should go down just as they were, even if they don’t seem reasonable.
Take the first evidence list seriously. It’s tempting to rush past it. Your feelings made sense for a reason, and acknowledging that makes the other list easier to believe.
Keep evidence to facts. “She looked at her phone twice while I was talking” is a fact. “She thinks I’m boring” is a guess, and it belongs in the thoughts step.
Aim for believable, not positive. A balanced thought you believe even a little is worth keeping. The more you believe it, the more the feeling tends to move.
Expect partial change. Even a small drop in a feeling is worth noticing, and how far it moves tends to follow how much you believe the new thought. Some feeling usually stays, because the situation still matters.
How often
Therapists often suggest one record a day for a while, or one whenever a strong feeling shows up. The research on CBT homework suggests that how well the practice is done matters too, not only how much of it gets done, though only a few studies have measured it. So take your time with each one.
When it isn’t working
If records keep leaving you where you started, a few things are worth checking. The hot thought might not be the right one. There may be an older belief underneath. The thought might be accurate, and the situation calls for action instead. Or you might believe the new thought in your head but not in your gut, which is common, and which testing things out in real life can shift better than writing. These are all good things to bring to a therapist. The article on when a record isn’t the right tool covers the rest.
References
- Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. Guilford Press.
- Padesky, C. A. (1983). 7-column thought record. Center for Cognitive Therapy. mindovermood.com
- Greenberger, D., & Padesky, C. A. (2016). Mind over mood: Change how you feel by changing the way you think (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. guilford.com
- Beck, J. S. (2021). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
- Kazantzis, N., Whittington, C., Zelencich, L., Kyrios, M., Norton, P. J., & Hofmann, S. G. (2016). Quantity and quality of homework compliance: A meta-analysis of relations with outcome in cognitive behavior therapy. Behavior Therapy, 47(5), 755–772. doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2016.05.002
- McManus, F., Van Doorn, K., & Yiend, J. (2012). Examining the effects of thought records and behavioral experiments in instigating belief change. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 43(1), 540–547. doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.07.003
- Bennett-Levy, J. (2003). Mechanisms of change in cognitive therapy: The case of automatic thought records and behavioural experiments. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 31(3), 261–277. doi.org/10.1017/S1352465803003035
Helpful links
- Mind Over Mood: Worksheets from the book, including the 7-Column Thought Record, in English and Spanish
- Psychology Tools: How to use CBT thought records
- NHS Every Mind Matters: Reframing unhelpful thoughts
- Centre for Clinical Interventions: Depression self-help resources, including thought diaries
The Thought Record home page has a shorter overview, with the other names a thought record goes by, what the research says, and the free ways to do one.
Educational content, not medical advice or a substitute for professional care. Ready to try one? Fill in a thought record online, read how to do one step by step, or print one.