Explore the triggers, thoughts, feelings, and consequences associated with substance use to understand its function in your life.
Think about a recent occasion when you used substances. Work through each section to build a clear picture of what happened before, during, and after. This helps identify patterns and the function that substance use serves.
Use throughout treatment to analyse specific episodes of substance use or urges. Functional analysis identifies the antecedents (triggers), behaviour (substance use details), and consequences (short-term and long-term) to understand the maintaining function of use.
Present as a detailed look at what happened before, during, and after a specific episode of use or strong urge. Explain that understanding the chain of events helps identify intervention points where the client can make different choices next time.
For clients who have difficulty recalling the chain of events (common with heavy use), work backwards from the use episode. For those who experience shame about use episodes, approach with non-judgmental curiosity and frame relapse as a learning opportunity.
Avoid detailed functional analysis immediately after a use episode if the client is distressed or at risk of further use — focus on safety and stabilisation first. Functional analysis works best in a calm, reflective state.
The most clinically useful element is identifying the function of use — was it social reinforcement, negative reinforcement (escape from distress), positive reinforcement (pleasure-seeking), or habit/craving? Different functions suggest different intervention strategies. Also identify decision points in the chain where the client could have intervened.
Suitable for clients working with substance-misuse, cbt, functional-analysis, triggers. This tool can be used as a standalone worksheet or as part of a structured homework plan.
Create a free account to access 10 professional CBT tools per month.
Weigh up the pros and cons of continuing to use substances versus making a change. A core motivational interviewing technique.
Track urges to use substances without acting on them. Practice the skill of riding the wave of craving until it passes.
A simplified motivational tool to explore your reasons for and against changing your substance use.
A cognitive formulation of substance misuse based on Beck et al.'s (1993) model. Maps the pathway from early experiences through beliefs and automatic thoughts to substance use and its maintaining cycle.