The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety

174 The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook

BEHAvIOR ANALYSIS WORKSHEET

1. 
   

   Problematic emotion:

   
   


2. 
   

   Precipitating event (what happened before the emotion)

   
   

 External event: Did something happen over which you have no control (losing a job,

getting sick, disturbing news, and so on)?

 Thoughts: What thoughts, prior to the emotion, might have triggered or intensified your

reaction?

 Emotion: Was there a prior and different emotion that triggered your reaction?

 Behavior: Was something you or someone else did a trigger for your reaction?

3. Secondary events: Identify what happened immediately after the precipitating event (but
   before the problematic emotion). Break it down into a series of steps (a, b, c).

a. Thoughts:

Emotion:

Behavior:

b. Thoughts:

Emotion:

Behavior:

c. Thoughts:

Emotion:

Behavior:

When you complete a Behavior Analysis Worksheet, you’ll see how emotions are built.
Something always triggers them. Sometimes that trigger is internal—like your thoughts or feelings—
and sometimes there are multiple causes, all of which need to be recognized and traced.