Opposite Action Worksheet: Check the Facts, Name the Urge, Act Opposite

What it helps with

• Making check the facts a gate and not an afterthought, so opposite action is not used on emotions that fit the facts.
• Naming the emotion and its action urge (fear: avoid or escape, shame: hide or withdraw, sadness: isolate, anger: attack or blame, unjustified guilt: over-apologise or punish oneself).
• Planning one specific, doable and time-bound opposite action, with body posture, face, voice and words all pointing the same way.
• Spotting safety behaviours that quietly turn an approach into half-hearted avoidance, and choosing which to drop for this attempt.
• Recording intensity before and after, so a gradual change can be seen across repeated attempts.

How clinicians use it

• Name the emotion and its urge first, using the client's own words. Then work through Part 2, check the facts, before any plan is made. Describe the prompting event as a camera would record it, set the interpretation or prediction beside it and weigh the evidence for and against.
• Use the gate. If the emotion fits the facts and acting on the urge is effective, stop. Move to problem-solving, interpersonal effectiveness or acceptance skills. Opposite action is for emotions whose intensity or urge does not fit the facts, or whose urge is not effective for what the client cares about. An emotion can fit the facts and still be unhelpful to act on, so ask both questions.
• Choose the opposite action from the menu: for fear, approach gradually and drop a safety behaviour. For shame, share what is safe to share with a trusted person and re-engage, in a non-judgemental tone. For sadness or low mood, get active toward a valued or mastery-linked activity. For anger, gently avoid, take time out, then take a kind or neutral approach. For unjustified guilt, act without apology, and repair only where a genuine harm occurred.
• Ask for all the way. Behaviour, posture, facial expression and voice tone all point opposite to the urge. Half-hearted action, such as approaching while avoiding eye contact, is a safety behaviour in disguise. Expect the change in the emotion to be gradual and not guaranteed on the first attempt. Repetition is the point.
• Use Part 4 to review. Compare the rating after with the rating before, ask what the client noticed about the urge and the prediction, and decide what to repeat or adjust.
• Link to other models. For fear and avoidance this overlaps with exposure and inhibitory learning, where the opposite action is an approach behaviour that tests a prediction. In ACT terms it is a committed action chosen by workability and not by the emotion. In CFT terms, shame-driven withdrawal is a threat-system response, so deliver the opposite action with a warm, non-punitive tone.
• Keep entries to initials and dates only. Nothing identifiable should be recorded on the sheet.

Clinical Implementation Guide

1. Name the emotion and its urge, then check the facts before any plan is made.
2. Stop if the emotion fits the facts and acting on it is effective. Otherwise choose one specific opposite action and do it all the way.
3. Rate the emotion before and after, note what happened to the urge and the prediction, and decide what to repeat.

What the worksheet looks like

Clinical cautions

Do not use opposite action to push a client to stay in or return to an unsafe situation, to override justified anger or fear, or as a substitute for risk assessment. For shame linked to trauma, pace the work within the client's window of tolerance and consider the formulation first. Use with care in clients with a history of invalidation: lead with validation, then offer the skill as an experiment. This is not a comprehensive DBT programme. If a client is at risk of harm, follow your service's risk procedures and local emergency pathways. This template is for use by qualified practitioners within a formulation-led plan. It does not diagnose any condition, is not psychological treatment in itself and does not replace face-to-face therapy or emergency crisis support. AI assisted in drafting this page, and it is awaiting review by a psychologist.

References

1. Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT skills training manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
2. Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT skills training handouts and worksheets (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
3. Kliem, S., Kröger, C., & Kosfelder, J. (2010). Dialectical behavior therapy for borderline personality disorder: A meta-analysis using mixed-effects modeling. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(6), 936-951.
4. DeCou, C. R., Comtois, K. A., & Landes, S. J. (2019). Dialectical behavior therapy is effective for the treatment of suicidal behavior: A meta-analysis. Behavior Therapy, 50(1), 60-72.

Copyright and use in research

© 2026 Dr Richard Pomfret and Third Wave Therapy Tools. May be used in research with the author and site cited. Version 0.1 draft, not yet approved.

Suggested citation (APA 7th edition): Pomfret, R. (2026). Opposite Action Worksheet: Check the facts, name the urge, act opposite (Version 0.1 draft) [Therapist guide and worksheet]. Third Wave Therapy Tools. https://thirdwavetherapytools.com/resources/opposite-action-worksheet

Part of

DBT Core Mindfulness

Related worksheets

• DBT Behaviour Chain Analysis Worksheet
• TIPP Skills Worksheet
• Behavioural Activation Worksheet
• Behavioural Experiment Worksheet
• Window of Tolerance Worksheet

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