CBT Safety Behaviours Worksheet
By
HappierTherapy
Author bio
The Happier Therapy editorial team is made up of Masters and PhD counselling psychologists. Each worksheet is created by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The worksheet then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
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What is the theory behind this CBT Safety Behaviours Worksheet?
Safety behaviours are behaviours meant to keep one safe from fear or reduce their level of distress in anxious situations. It can include complete avoidance of the feared situation or other subtle ways of avoidance if the situation is unavoidable. It can include behaviours such as distraction, preparing or repeated checking. In Cognitive Behavior Therapy, individuals identify such safety behaviours and work on preventing them so that they learn to gradually face their fears instead of avoiding them.
How will the worksheet help?
This worksheet will help clients observe and note down their safety behaviours. This worksheet will provide them with information about safety behaviours along with some examples so they understand what it means and observe the same when they are in anxiety provoking situations. Knowledge of safety behaviours can help the therapist plan exposure therapy for the client.
How to use the worksheet?
This worksheet can be used for clients seeking treatment for anxiety. CBT therapists can explain the concept of safety behaviours and why they are a problem before giving this worksheet to help the client keep track of their own safety behaviours whenever they are faced with their feared situation or object.
