Numerous strategies to facilitate cognitive restructuring have been developed to help individuals
consider alternative explanations and examine the evidence for their beliefs (Beck 1995, Wright
et al. 2006). Guided discovery (e.g., skillful questioning that allows individuals to come to their
own conclusions regarding the helpfulness or validity of their thoughts and behaviors) is used to
maximize the potential benefit of considering alternative viewpoints (Dobson 2009). A variety of
worksheets have been developed (e.g., the Thought Record Sheet) to help individuals learn how to
recognize, examine, and modify inaccurate thoughts and images (Greenberger & Padesky 1995).
When beliefs about responsibility dominate a clinical presentation, the completion of a pie chart
may assist the individual in examining thoughts related to one’s role in a given situation (Beck
1995). Once an individual has adopted an accurate thought, he or she may be encouraged to write
the modified thought on a card (e.g., Coping Cards) in order to reinforce the importance of the
new thought and to help him or her generalize the thought to situations outside of the therapy
session (Beck 1995).