5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
The fastest grounding technique for anxiety, panic, or dissociation: name 5 things you see, 4 you can touch, 3 you hear, 2 you...
60-90 seconds
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Third-wave behavioral therapy based on psychological flexibility — learning to accept difficult thoughts/feelings while...
2-3 hours/week
Anti-Rumination Protocol
Break the cycle of repetitive negative thinking (rumination) that fuels depression and anxiety. Rumination feels productive but...
Ongoing awareness + 15-min worry window
Anxiety Exposure Ladder
The gold standard treatment for anxiety: gradually face feared situations in a structured hierarchy, starting with the least...
20-45 minutes per exposure, 3-5x per week
Behavioral Activation for Depression
A structured, step-by-step approach to overcoming depression by systematically increasing engagement in rewarding activities...
10 minutes daily for monitoring + scheduled activities
Behavioral Experiments for Belief Testing
A core CBT technique where you design real-life experiments to test the accuracy of anxious, depressive, or limiting beliefs...
30 minutes to design + variable time to run experiment
Box Breathing
Equal-ratio breathing technique (4-4-4-4 pattern) used by Navy SEALs, athletes, and first responders for composure in...
5 min per session, 1-3 sessions/day
Breathwork for Anxiety (4-7-8 Method)
Specific breathing pattern — inhale for 4 counts, hold for 7, exhale for 8 — that activates the parasympathetic nervous system...
5-10 min/day
Cognitive Behavioral Journaling
A self-therapy tool: write down the triggering situation, your automatic thought, the emotion and intensity (0-10), then...
10-15 minutes per entry
Cognitive Behavioral Techniques (Thought Records & Behavioral Experiments)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most empirically validated psychotherapy framework, with meta-analyses showing efficacy...
10-15 minutes per thought record (3x/week minimum); behavioral experiments as opportunities arise
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Structured, evidence-based psychotherapy that identifies and changes negative thought patterns and behaviors. The most...
2-3 hours/week (sessions + homework)
Cognitive Defusion Exercises
ACT-based techniques for 'unhooking' from distressing thoughts by changing your relationship with thoughts rather than their...
5-10 minutes per exercise, practiced as thoughts arise
Cognitive Reframing
Actively changing how you interpret stressful situations by generating alternative, more balanced perspectives. A core CBT...
10-15 min/day of deliberate practice
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Mindfulness-based therapy developed for emotional dysregulation, teaching skills in four areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance...
4-5 hours/week (individual therapy + group + daily practice)
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
Trauma-focused therapy using bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements) while recalling distressing memories to facilitate...
1.5-2 hours/week for 6-12 weeks
Exposure Therapy
Systematic, gradual confrontation with feared situations, objects, or thoughts to reduce anxiety and avoidance. The most...
2-3 hours/week (therapy + practice)
Gratitude Practice
Deliberately focusing attention on things you appreciate in life. Research shows regular gratitude practice improves wellbeing...
10-15 min/day
Journaling for Mental Health
Regular written reflection to process emotions, identify thought patterns, and track mental states. Used as a standalone practice...
1.5-2.5 hours/week
PTSD Grounding Toolkit
A portable set of grounding techniques for flashbacks, dissociation, and hyperarousal. These aren't therapy — they're emergency...
2-5 minutes per grounding episode
Panic Attack First Aid Protocol
A step-by-step protocol to survive a panic attack in real-time. Panic attacks are terrifying but not dangerous — they peak at 10...
10-15 minutes during an episode
Polyvagal Exercises (Vagal Toning)
Strengthen your vagus nerve — the brain-body highway that controls your calm-down response. A strong vagal tone means faster...
2-5 minutes per exercise
Psychological Flexibility Training (ACT)
A structured approach based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy's six core processes — acceptance, defusion, present moment...
15-20 minutes daily
Radical Acceptance Practice (DBT)
From Dialectical Behavior Therapy: when facing pain you cannot change, practice radical acceptance — fully acknowledging reality...
Moments throughout the day
Rumination-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Self-Guided)
Adapted from Edward Watkins' RFCBT, this approach uses functional analysis to identify when rumination shifts from helpful...
10-15 minutes daily for exercises + in-the-moment application
Self-Directed Neuroplasticity (Schwartz 4-Step Method)
Jeffrey Schwartz's 4-Step Method, developed at UCLA for OCD treatment, is a self-directed neuroplasticity protocol that changes...
5-15 minutes per episode, practiced every time the target thought/urge occurs
Worry Journal (Scheduled Worry Time)
Schedule 15 minutes per day for dedicated worrying. When anxious thoughts come at other times, write them on a list and say 'I'll...
15 minutes per day
Worry Time Scheduling
A cognitive-behavioral technique where you schedule a specific 15-30 minute daily 'worry window,' deliberately postponing...
15-30 minutes daily (structured worry time)