Tool 08 · CBT
Worry Tree Visualiser
A worry only becomes a problem if you handle it the wrong way. Branch your worry into solvable, hypothetical, or somewhere in between — and get a concrete next step for each.
A short sentence, even if it feels imprecise. Vague is fine at this step.
This session is saved to your browser only. Closing the tab is fine; closing the site will lose it.
Take the branch the worry offers
Try not to argue with the worry\'s content. Just ask whether it has a handle or whether it doesn\'t. That one question does most of the work.
When worry is sticking around
Worries that loop for more than 10 minutes usually have a hidden "what should I do?" inside. The tree surfaces it.
The branch, not the tree
If you land in "hypothetical", that\'s success, not failure. Letting go is also a result.
What this actually does
The worry tree is a CBT technique popularised by Adrian Wells (2009). The premise is small but powerful: most unhelpful worry is the result of trying to solve something that isn\'t solvable, or refusing to act on something that is. Asking which one you have is enough to break the loop.
This version adds a "not sure" branch, because most worries are a mix. A small piece is actionable; the rest is hypothetical. Naming those pieces is usually the actual un-sticking.
Who it\'s for
Anyone whose worry is mostly cognitive (in the head, not the body) and who can name it as a sentence. Useful in the evening, on Sunday nights, and right before a difficult conversation.
It\'s not for crisis. If you\'re in immediate distress, your worry is probably not the place to start — try Box Breathing or a crisis line first.
How to read the results
The branch tells you what kind of attention the worry deserves. Actionable worries need your calendar; hypothetical worries need your patience. The "not sure" branch is a tool for separating the two cleanly. Most people find that 70-90% of their worry is hypothetical, and most actionable pieces are smaller than they feared.
Limitations
The classifier is your own answer, not the tool\'s. If you\'re in the habit of treating every worry as urgent, you may mis-classify. The tool does not second-guess you. If you classify a real, urgent crisis as "hypothetical", the tool won\'t correct you — please see Disclaimer.
FAQ
Where is the worry saved?
In your browser\'s localStorage, on this device only. Resume Last Session restores the worry and the branch you were on, but does not store a long history.
Can I save a worry for later?
Not directly in this tool — by design, the worry tree is meant to be used in the moment. For a scheduled "worry time", see the Worry-Time Scheduler.
Why does the "hypothetical" branch offer body exercises?
Hypothetical worry lives in the head. Body-based exercises (breathing, scanning, labelling) interrupt the cognitive loop. They don\'t argue with the thought; they change the channel.
What are the common mistakes when using Worry Tree Visualiser?
Most common mistakes come down to four habits: entering 20 when the field expects 0.2 because the field is a percentage; leaving a field blank and accepting the default without checking what it stands for; changing one input and reading a result that was calculated before the change; and quoting the output as an exact figure when the page describes it as a reference estimate. Press calculate again after any edit, and treat the number as a reference point rather than a final answer.Advertisement