Free patient handouts you can use in practice

23 one page handouts on thinking traps, anxiety, sleep, mood, attention, boundaries, and more. Written under the direction of a board-certified psychiatrist, free to print and share with patients, students, and teams. No sign up, no email, no ads.

Cleared for your practice

• Print and hand out in clinics, schools, and workplaces.
• Share digitally in patient portals, after visit summaries, and group materials.
• Use in teaching, including psychoeducation groups and staff trainings.
• Just keep the credit. Handouts are licensed CC BY 4.0.

The handouts

Understand your thinking

• Cognitive Distortions: 11 Thinking Traps A one-page CBT reference for spotting biased thoughts and reframing them. The kind of sheet therapists and teachers print.
• The Overthinking Loop: A Worksheet A worksheet to interrupt rumination and worry, and find one real next step instead of spinning.
• The Thought Record A CBT worksheet to catch a hot thought, weigh the evidence, and find a fairer one.

Calm anxiety and the stress response

• The Window of Tolerance A nervous-system map: how stress pushes you out of your steady zone, the signs of each state, and simple ways back.
• The Stress Response: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn The four automatic ways the body meets a threat, what each is doing, and one way to steady each.
• Grounding Techniques: A Pocket Card Six simple, evidence-informed ways to come back to the present when you feel overwhelmed or anxious. Print and keep.
• Panic Attack First Aid What a panic attack is, why it can't hurt you, and steps to ride one out.

Lift low mood

• Behavioral Activation: An Activity Planner When low mood saps motivation, action comes before the feeling. A gentle planner to re-engage with what matters.

Focus, sleep, and the brain

• Executive Function: Your Brain's Management System The mental skills that plan, focus, remember, and self-regulate, and a simple support for each.
• Sleep: How It Works and a Wind-Down Routine The two systems that drive sleep, and a simple evening routine to fall asleep more easily.
• The Sleep Diary A simple week-long log to spot what helps and what hurts your sleep.
• Executive Function Scaffolds for Adults with ADHD Six real-life supports for the executive skills that are hardest with ADHD. Change the task, not the effort.
• Sleep for Shift Workers Practical, evidence-informed changes for before, during, and after the shift.

Name feelings, values, and relationships

• Attachment Styles: A Quick Guide The four ways we connect, the signs of each, and what helps each grow more secure.
• Name the Feeling: An Emotion Vocabulary Precise words for emotions calm them and sharpen your response, from broad to specific.
• Values Clarification: A Worksheet When you're stuck or overwhelmed, values point the way. Name what matters and act on it.
• Boundaries: A Starter Guide What healthy boundaries are, the main kinds, and simple language you can use to set them.
• Cooling Down Anger A quick plan for the moment anger spikes, and what to do once the heat passes.
• The Self-Compassion Break Three short steps to steady yourself in a hard moment, based on self-compassion research.
• Boundaries: A Starter Guide for Teens What healthy boundaries are, five kinds you can set, and plain-language phrases teens can actually use with friends, family, and online.

Teams, workplaces, and clinical care

• The Workplace Daily Reset Five one-minute practices for common workday moments. Made to print, post, or share with the team.
• Five-Minute Mental Reset for Primary Care Teams A between-patients reset built for the real clinical day. Post it at the workstation or share it in the huddle.
• When to Escalate: A Clinician's Reference Seven common signals and reasonable next steps for primary care, therapists, coaches, and school staff.

Link to this page from your site

A link from your practice or school website helps patients find the current version. Here's one you can paste:

<a href="https://shrinkdaily.com/for-clinicians">Free patient handouts from ShrinkDaily</a>

You can also add the free concept of the day widget to your site.

Questions