Check the Facts Worksheet
When a fact check should be worked through in writing and not just mentally.
Carry out fact checking not just conceptually, but as a step-by-step exercise.
When does this fit?
When Check the Facts needs to not only be understood, but actually applied to a real situation.
Priority in the path
This node fits early in the path when fear or panic or strong emotional activation are in the foreground.
What this is about
When completing this worksheet, the key is specificity about the prompting event: describe only the few moments immediately before the emotion fired, not the backstory. The backstory belongs under vulnerability factors. The most common error is listing an interpretation as the prompting event (e.g., 'She rejected me') rather than the observable fact (e.g., 'She did not respond to my text').
Working through the worksheet slowly — especially the steps of identifying the emotion's action urge and asking whether the intensity fits the facts — often reveals that the emotion is based on an interpretation that can be checked, not a fact that must be accepted.
Step by step
Work through the steps at your own pace. For written exercises, you can use paper or a notebook.
- Name the emotion you want to examine and its intensity.
- Describe the prompting event using observable facts, separating them from judgments.
- Record your interpretations and assumptions. What other explanations are possible?
- Examine assumed threats: how likely are they, and what other outcomes are possible?
- Name the feared catastrophe and ways you could cope with it.
- Finally, check whether the emotion and its intensity fit the facts. Use this assessment for your next step.
Explore and apply
These nodes are the next meaningful continuation when you want to move on from the current concept.
Sources and references
Show where this node comes from and how source-near or practice-near it is.