Mapping My Craving Reset Cycle: A Free Craving & Compulsive Urge Psychoeducation Worksheet

Behavioural Addiction · Practice-informed · Clinical consensus

A psychoeducation worksheet that builds a client's own five-stage picture of their craving cycle — the trigger, the physiological signal that arrives before the urge fully forms, the urge's exact words, the inner-critic reaction, and the behaviour and its cost — so a single overwhelming event starts looking like a sequence that can be stepped into and interrupted.

Underlying mechanism: Functional Analysis of the Craving Reset Cycle

What it helps with

Turning a vague sense of "I can't seem to stop" into five specific, nameable stages the client can recognise in the moment.
Separating the physiological signal from the urge's cognitive content, which is what later lets the breath skill and defusion skill target different stages of the same cycle.
Capturing the inner-critic voice as its own stage, rather than folding it into "what happened next" — this is what the compassion-focused worksheet later builds on.
Making the short-term relief and longer-term cost of the behaviour explicit in the client's own words, without requiring them to have already stopped the behaviour.
Working across presentations — smartphone/gaming, gambling, eating, shopping — since the worksheet is written in behaviour-neutral language deliberately.

How clinicians use it

Build the cycle collaboratively using the client's own recent example rather than presenting it as a lecture; this is the natural entry point to the wider protocol.
Frame it as detective work, not a discipline log — the aim is pattern-spotting, not shame, and nothing here requires the behaviour to have already stopped.
Use the client's specific behaviour, triggers and inner-critic content from this worksheet as the raw material for every later worksheet in the protocol.
Revisit it in Session 2 as a review before introducing the breath skill, so the client arrives at Session 3 already fluent in their own cycle.

Clinical Implementation Guide

Build the cycle collaboratively in Session 1 using the client's own recent example, not a hypothetical one.
Keep the tone non-judgemental throughout — this is pattern-spotting, not a discipline log.
Carry the specific behaviour, triggers and inner-critic wording captured here into every later worksheet in the protocol.

What the worksheet looks like

Mapping My Craving Reset Cycle — worked example
Stage	What This Looks Like	Worked Example
1. Trigger	External or internal cue that starts the pattern	Bored, scrolling betting-app ads after work
2. Physiological spike	Heart rate, breath, muscle tension before the urge fully forms	Chest tight, breath shallow, restless legs
3. Urge cognition	The exact urgent thought, in its own words	"Just one bet, I'll stop after"
4. Threat-system / shame	The self-critical voice, whether or not the client gives in	"You always do this, you're weak"
5. Behaviour & cost	The behaviour, short-term relief, longer-term cost	Placed bet, relief for 10 minutes, £40 lost and regret by evening

Clinical cautions

This is a psychoeducation and formulation worksheet, not a diagnostic instrument. It is designed as an indicated intervention for clients already recognising a problematic pattern, not as universal psychoeducation. This tool does not diagnose any condition and is not a substitute for individual face-to-face therapy or for emergency crisis support. Anyone in immediate distress should contact their local emergency service or crisis line.

References

Lindenberg, K., Kewitz, S., Neumann, I., et al. (2026). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy vs Media Literacy for Prevention of Gaming Disorder and Unspecified Internet Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open, 9(9), e2631942. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.31942

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