8 CBT Exercises for Anxiety and Depression You Can Do at Home

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches practical skills you can use on your own between sessions. These exercises are among the most widely used in CBT for anxiety, low mood and stress. Try one or two for a week; skills grow with repetition. They complement, but don’t replace, therapy when symptoms are significant.

1. Thought record

When you feel a strong emotion, write down: the situation, your automatic thought, the emotion (0–100), the evidence for and against the thought, and a balanced alternative. Re-rate the emotion. This is the core CBT skill for catching and testing anxious or self-critical thinking.

2. Spot thinking traps

• Catastrophizing: jumping to the worst outcome.
• Mind reading: assuming you know what others think.
• All-or-nothing: “If it’s not perfect, it’s a failure.”
• Should statements: rigid rules for yourself and others.
• Discounting the positive.

Simply labeling a thought (“that’s catastrophizing”) creates distance from it.

3. Behavioral activation

Low mood makes you do less, which lowers mood further. Schedule small activities that give a sense of pleasure or accomplishment (a walk, a call, a 10-minute chore) and rate your mood before and after. This is a well-studied approach for depression.

4. Exposure ladder

For fears and avoidance, list situations from least to most scary and work up step by step, staying until anxiety drops. Examples: driving anxiety, social anxiety, OCD (with response prevention).

5. Worry time

Set a daily 15-minute window for worrying. When a worry pops up during the day, jot it down and postpone it. Many people find worries feel smaller or resolved by worry time. Helpful for overthinking.

6. Behavioral experiments

Test a belief in real life. “If I say no, they’ll be angry” becomes an experiment: say no to a small request and record what actually happens.

7. Problem-solving

Define the problem, brainstorm options without judging, weigh pros and cons, pick one, plan the steps, then review.

8. Breathing and grounding

Slow breathing (exhale longer than inhale) and grounding (name 5 things you see, 4 you feel, 3 you hear, 2 you smell, 1 you taste) calm the body enough to use the other skills.

Getting more out of CBT

Self-help works best with structure and feedback. Online CBT programs combine worksheets with a therapist who reviews your work; see online CBT therapy. Try writing prompts too: anxiety journal prompts.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• American Psychological Association: Cognitive behavioral therapy
• NHS: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Andersson G. et al. (2014). Guided Internet-based vs. face-to-face CBT: a systematic review and meta-analysis. World Psychiatry.
• SAMHSA: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline