Tools › Anxiety, mood & sleep › Behavioral Activation Planner
🌱 Anxiety, mood & sleep · Free printable tool
Behavioral Activation Planner
One pleasant action and one useful action per day, scheduled before you feel like it. Action comes first, motivation follows.
Behavioral activation is as effective as cognitive therapy for depression in large trials, and simpler. Depression says 'I will do it when I feel better'. The evidence says the opposite: mood improves after activity, not before. Keep actions tiny (10 minutes counts), schedule them at a time, and rate mood before and after so you can see the effect for yourself.
What is inside
- ✓Day · Pleasant action (time) · Mood before / after 0-10 · Useful action (time) · Mood before / after 0-10 · Done
- ✓My menus
- ✓Pleasant, small, cheap (music, sun on the face, call a friend, 10 minutes of a hobby)
- ✓Useful, small (one dish washed, one email, 5 minutes of tidying, a short walk)
- ✓Things I used to enjoy and stopped (to bring back one at a time)
- ✓End of week
- ✓Which actions moved my mood the most?
How to use it
- 1Print it, or open it on a tablet and fill it with a stylus.
- 2Use it for one week before judging it. New habits need a few repetitions.
- 3Bring it to your doctor or therapist: a filled sheet says more than memory.
This tool supports self-management. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace professional care.