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Acknowledging my strengths

Completing the exercise that follows will help you recognize your accomplishments, positive personal traits, and skills.

ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD as it is more commonly called, is a mental condition in which an individual may experience symptoms such as difficulty concentrating and/or behavior that often manifests as hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Analyze the probability of a feared event

Many of our fears grow in their intensity without us ever stopping to analyze their exact nature, their causes, their probabilities of occurrence, the amount of control we might have over the situation, and the very real outcomes that are possible if our fears were realized.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a common and natural human reaction that people experience both in their everyday lives, and at particular moments of heightened experience. Some levels of anxiety can be healthy and provide motivation to problem solve around concerning issues. When anxiety takes control over one’s day-to-day experience and causes significant disruption in one’s daily life it may require the attention of a mental health professional.

Applying problem solving to interpersonal conflict

This exercise is designed to help you apply problem-solving skills to current conflicts in your life to produce a “winwin” result.

Assertive communication of anger

In this assignment, you are asked to practice expressing your anger in a calm, controlled, and assertive manner on a regular basis at home, at school, or in the workplace.

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder can be a debilitating condition that is most known for its cyclical nature. Estimates suggest that as many as 60 million people worldwide live with some version of Bipolar Disorder. There are two types to Bipolar Disorder (Bipolar I Disorder and Bipolar II Disorder), each with their own features.

Borderline personality disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder, commonly referred to as BPD, is a condition that affects less than 2% percent of the American population in any given year. It is a condition marked by a general instability of mood and in personal relationships, and most often a negative self-image.

Challenging questions

Challenge your maladaptive or problematic beliefs/stuck points.

Cognitive restructuring

Minds are amazing and help us get through our daily lives. But they are not always 100% accurate and they don’t always produce helpful thoughts. Cognitive restructuring is a tool that can help with this.

Create your designated worry time

Identify whether worry is keeping you awake, and identify the kind of worry most common for you. This exercise will then help you establish a plan for addressing your worry to help you sleep better.

Defusion – playing with thoughts

This technique from ACT will help you gain perspective on the thoughts that tend to think you, so you can think them in the way that is most helpful for you.

Depression

Depression is the most diagnosed mental health condition worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that as many as 300 million people live with depression. Most often characterized by low mood, fatigue, and lack of motivation, depression can be highly disruptive to a person’s life, work, and relationships.

Designated worry time FAQ

Frequently asked questions about designated worry time.

Dissociative identity disorder

There is a lot confusion and misinformation related to Dissociative Identity Disorder, which is not surprising as it is generally a rare condition. In fact, all combined dissociative disorders affect just about 2% of the US population.

Eating disorders

Eating disorders make up a classification of conditions that reference a troubling and disruptive relationship with food and nutrition. It is estimated that in the United States as many as 30 million people (20 million women and 10 million men) have an eating disorder in their lifetime.

Gender dysphoria

Gender dysphoria (previously, Gender Identity Disorder) is a mental health condition that exists for people who demonstrate or express distress or discomfort with their gender identity

How did you get stuck?

Get to know the sleepless you better. What put you at risk for insomnia? Did any life events set you on this path? How did you respond to your sleepless that now may be maintaining it further?

How much to share in therapy

Therapy is an incredibly unique space. It is, for many people, the only place in which they can come close to divulging all or most of their thoughts, feelings, and challenges. Therapy can be an intimidating and challenging process.

How to ask your therapist for changes

Therapy is a complex process. The success of therapy, in large part, falls on the strength of the relationship between therapist and client.

How to set goals in therapy and when does it start working?

One of the questions that you will encounter very early in your conversations with your new therapist is, “what goals do you have for therapy?” This can be an incredibly difficult question to answer.

Identify and schedule pleasant activities

People who are stressed or depressed almost always withdraw from participation in activities that they once found satisfying, rewarding, pleasurable, or just plain fun. It is very important to break this cycle of withdrawal and to begin reinvesting in the activities of life, the relationships around you, and the things you do well.

Is it really insomnia?

Struggling to get good restful sleep can be insomnia. But it can also be something else (or a combination). Answer these questions to see if there is another cause of your sleeplessness – so you can be sure you’re getting what you need.

Journal to replace self-defeating thoughts

This assignment highlights six common self-defeating thoughts that almost always lead to feelings of frustration, sadness, anger, or other negative emotions.

Keeping a sleep log

This important exercise is the workhorse of the program. Track your sleep, track the time you’re bed but not asleep, and keep track of what you’re doing and consuming throughout the day that may be impacting your ability to sleep. Without this data, it will be difficult to tailor the program to your needs – and difficult to see your progress!

Learning emotional willingness

Sometimes we reserve special allowances and special assumptions for our emotions. This exercise helps you explore whether and when it makes sense to do this and what you can do about it if you want to make a change.

Maintaining your gains FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Maintaining Your Gains

Making your own decisions

When you develop a habit of dependence on others, you commonly avoid making your own decisions. You postpone or project responsibility for decisions onto others. Often,this pattern extends to even the small decisions of daily living, such as what time to eat,what meal to prepare, what time to go to bed, or whether to make a small purchase.

Mindfulness exercises

Whether you think this is for you or not, here are some different types of exercises and experiences to try. Getting in to the “mindfulness mindset” takes practice and time. These suggestions are designed to appeal to different people – see which one works best for you.

Mood disorders

Mood disorders are a cluster of mental health conditions that primarily impact a person’s mood or their day-to-day emotional experience. Those living with mood disorders most often experience disruptive negative moods, such as those common in depressive conditions.

Narcissistic personality disorder

Narcissism is a trait that is a part of every personality to varying degrees. Those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder differs from the average narcissism that we often talk about in social settings as it can produce significant disruptions in a person’s life.

Negative thoughts trigger negative feelings

We used to believe that it was depression or anxiety that made people think negatively, but psychologists and psychiatrists have discovered that most people who struggle with anxious or depressed feelings first had negative, pessimistic, distorted thoughts that produced those feelings.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, commonly referred to as OCD, is a condition that affects just over 1% of the American population annually. While the number of people living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder might be small in relation to the total population, the impact on the individual may be profound.

Panic disorder

Panic is an emotional experience characterized by intense and extreme moments of terror, worry, or fear. Panic attacks are the words we most often use to describe those intense moments of overwhelming fear.

Paraphilic disorders

Paraphilias are colloquially understood as “odd” or “unusual” sexual desires. Historically, the term fetish has been used and has harbored a lot of judgement and negativity.

Past successful coping

This assignment leads us to focus on resources and successes that we have demonstrated throughout our past.

Planning ahead for mindfulness and defusion

Waiting to practice until you’re on the soccer field is unlikely to lead to good performance. This worksheet can help you establish a practice plan and to give structure to this important time. As you follow your self-designed plan, you’ll find you’re more prepared when it matters most.

Positive Affirmations

In order to help positive thinking and reduce stress, here are some suggested positive affirmations.

Positive self-talk

This assignment is designed to help you break out of self-defeating, unrealistic, negative thinking cycles. It will take effort and focused attention to break the bad habit of distorted thinking.

PTSD

In the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 3.5% of the population live with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in a given year.

Relationships

Relationship concerns are one of the most common reasons people seek out therapy. For many, this may mean concerns about romantic relationships or partnerships, but this is not always the case. Relationships between family members and “chosen” family members may be motivators for seeking out professional support as well.

Satisfying unmet emotional needs

This exercise will help you identify and specify what needs of yours are unmet and will help you design a plan of action by doing something constructive.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious mental health condition that affects approximately 1.5% of the American population. It is a chronic and severe condition that often manifests in bizarre behavior and a disconnect with reality.

Sexual dysfunction

There is a lot of stigma attached to the area of sex and sexual function. As such, it can be very difficult to talk about sex-related issues with a mental health provider, or even your partner. Mental health providers, such as therapists, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists are professionals and well equipped to help you cope with any sexual issues you may be having.

Sleep effort

Sometimes when we struggle to sleep as we’d like, we expend effort to “fix it.” These efforts can get in the way of our ability to sleep or return to the restful sleep we used to enjoy. This sheet will help you start to analyze what your sleep effort looks like.

Sleep hygiene

Sleep hygiene guidelines are designed to help your body clock establish a fixed time for sleep and to help your sleep drive be strong enough to assist in sleep when the time comes.

Sleep progress FAQ

Frequently asked questions about sleep progress.

Sleep restriction therapy FAQ

Frequently asked questions about sleep restriction therapy.

Sleep restriction therapy plan

If Sleep Restriction Therapy seems like a good strategy for you to try, this worksheet will help you create a plan you can live with and stick with. Keeping a record of your plan with you will help you be consistent and keep you on track especially when you’re feeling tired.

Stimulus Control FAQ

Frequently asked questions about stimulus control.

Stimulus control therapy plan

If Stimulus Control Therapy feels like a good fit for you, this worksheet lays out everything you need to remember and do to get the most from this powerful strategy. Pre-planning your activities makes it more likely you’ll follow through and see the benefits you want.

Stress

Stress is a normal condition that affects everyone, to varying degrees. It is the normal physical and emotional response to changes in one’s environment or life events. There are two types of stress: eustress and distress.

Substance use addiction & addictive disorders

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, addiction is defined as, “a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences.”

Taking steps towards independence

Fear and lack of confidence can thwart the normal development of independence. You may look to others to make decisions for you while you seek to please them in any possible way, even if it means taking over activities that clearly belong as the responsibility of others.

Thought record

Our thoughts are not always helpful. Our thoughts are not always accurate. Yet they often go unexamined. An exercise like this Thought Record will help you see if and how your thoughts are impacting your ability to sleep. It can even help you make changes and track the results.

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is a rare condition that affects approximately 1% to 3.5% of young adults and late adolescents. The rates for adults are estimated around 1% of the population.

What are my good qualities?

Often we are quick to mention our faults and overlook our good qualities. It is now time for you to pay special attention to what is good about you—focus on the aspects of your personality that make you uniquely a good person.

What if I’m having an emergency?

You may be wondering what to do if you find yourself experiencing an emotional crisis or life-threatening situation. This is an important scenario to consider when using online therapy.

What is insomnia really costing me?

When we’re used to dealing with less than ideal sleep, it can feel like it’s really not that big a deal, especially if coasting in our current direction feels easier than making changes. This exercise will help you examine and see in one place what impact Insomnia is having on your life.

What is insomnia really costing me now?

Important changes take time. As time passes it’s hard to see the progress we’re making. This exercise helps you revisit the questions you started by asking yourself to see if you’ve made gains you may have lost track of along the way.

What is therapy and why is it important?

There are a lot of misconceptions of what therapy is, and what therapy isn’t. Representations of therapy and mental health in mainstream media have often led to greater confusion and stigma of therapy and mental health issues.

Worry time

The purpose of this exercise is to reduce the amount of time you spend each day worrying. The first step in this exercise is to identify the specific stressor or issue that you are worried about in your current life. Next, you will select specific time and place where you can focus or concentrate on your worries.

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Disclaimer The content of this informational link such as the tables, graphics, images, text and all other materials, is provided for reference and educational purposes only. The content is not meant to be complete or exhaustive or to be applicable to any specific individual's mental health condition and is not a diagnosis or meant to be used as treatment advice by your Provider-Therapist.

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