UNHELPFUL THOUGHTS:
   CHALLENGING AND TESTING THEM OUT
                 A Cognitive Behavioural Therapy evidence based approach 
                   to help you overcome a range of common emotional 
                    difficulties – low mood, depression, anger, anxiety.
     Unhelpful Thoughts
               UNHELPFUL THOUGHTS
               Welcome!
               Well done for getting this far to try and get on top of the 
               emotional difficulty you’re currently experiencing, for 
               example, low mood, depression, stress, anger, anxiety. 
               Seeking help can be one of the most difficult steps to make!
               The Unhelpful Thoughts: Challenging and         (IAPT) programme in England. Given the 
               Testing Them Out workbook is based on an        success of this way of working, similar roles 
               evidence based psychological treatment          to that of PWP working have also become 
               known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy          increasingly available in other countries.
               (CBT). It will guide you through two specific 
               CBT techniques called Thought Challenging 
               and Behavioural Experiments. These 
               techniques have been shown to help many 
               people experiencing common emotional               You are in control of the way 
               difficulties such as low mood, depression,         you choose to work through 
               or anxiety.                                        this workbook. Therefore, the 
               This workbook is designed to be supported          speed you want to go is down 
               by a mental health professional trained to         to you alongside how you put 
               help people get the most out of it. This may 
               be a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, or      the techniques you’ll learn  
               often shortened to PWP, working within the         into practice.
               Improving Access to Psychological Therapies 
                                                                                                                     3
           Unhelpful Thoughts
                So What is Thought Challenging and 
                Behavioural Experiments?
                Having unhelpful thoughts is something we all experience. 
                These unhelpful thoughts may upset us, but usually we are 
                able to move on quickly with what we are doing. 
                However, sometimes unhelpful thoughts               not believing it very much. Behavioural 
                can be so powerful they are difficult to            Experiments can therefore help us put the 
                ignore and control. This is especially the          new revised more balanced thought into 
                case when we are experiencing a common              action – providing us with more believable 
                mental health problem, such as depression           evidence for our new thought. 
                or anxiety. Unhelpful thoughts may feel             Before we get started, it’s important to find 
                so overwhelming and distressing they can            out a little bit more about the techniques 
                influence how we behave and even how                used in the Unhelpful Thoughts: Challenging 
                we feel physically, having a further negative       and Testing Them Out workbook. You are 
                impact on our mood. This can maintain what          then more able to decide whether using 
                we call a vicious cycle, which we’ll talk more      these techniques is best for you. You will also 
                about later in the workbook.                        be helped to identify if there’s anything that 
                The techniques presented in this workbook           may get in the way of you getting the most 
                are based on two evidence-based techniques          out of the workbook.
                for the treatment of common emotional 
                difficulties called Thought Challenging and         To find out more about the 
                Behavioural Experiments. These techniques 
                can help break into that vicious cycle, which       Unhelpful Thoughts: Challenging 
                can keep unhelpful and distressing emotions         and Testing Them Out, let’s hear a 
                going and a lot of research has found these         little about Robert’s story and how 
                techniques to be effective, especially for          he used this approach to overcome 
                people experiencing difficult life events and 
                other problems.                                     his depression. Remember, whilst 
                Thought Challenging is a technique to help          Robert’s story is focused on his 
                you reduce the impact of your unhelpful             struggles with depression and low 
                thoughts. Instead, you will learn how to            mood, the approach may also be 
                recognise and challenge your unhelpful              equally useful for people who are 
                thoughts by examining evidence for and              stressed or anxious. 
                against them. This will help you create 
                new more balanced thoughts. Behavioural 
                Experiments then provide a way to test out          If you are experiencing stress or anxiety, 
                these new balanced thoughts in everyday life        and need some support identifying how 
                if you feel this may be of additional benefit.      you might apply the techniques used in this 
                This can be helpful as sometimes, although          workbook, speak with your PWP or anyone 
                we may have created a more balanced                 else who may be supporting you.
                thought, we might still find ourselves 
       4