Evidence check

In the early 1960s, the psychiatrist Aaron Beck was studying depression at the University of Pennsylvania. He expected to find hidden, unconscious conflicts. Instead, his patients kept describing something much closer to the surface.

Alongside what they said out loud ran a quick, almost unnoticed stream of thoughts: "He's bored of me." "I always get this wrong." Beck called them automatic thoughts. They felt like facts, but when he and his patients looked at them carefully, many of them didn't hold up.

An evidence check treats a thought as a hypothesis to test, not a verdict to accept. You gather what supports it and what doesn't, the way a fair-minded friend or a good detective would.

The goal isn't to force a positive thought. It's to land on a view that fits all the facts, including the uncomfortable ones. Often that view is calmer simply because it's more accurate.

It helps to write things down. Worry is good at repeating itself in your head; on paper you can see when the "evidence" is really a feeling, a guess, or one memory standing in for many.

• Socrates

  Ancient Greek philosophy tested beliefs with patient questions. CBT therapists still call this Socratic questioning.

• Stoicism

  Epictetus taught that we are disturbed not by events but by our judgements about them, and that judgements can be examined.

Pick one worried thought you've had recently.

Your answers stay in this page and aren't saved or sent anywhere.

You notice the thought "I'm going to fail this exam." What would an evidence check involve?