CBT · Anxiety

Three Futures Worksheet

Worst case, best case, most likely — and plan for the last one

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Anxiety zooms straight to the worst case and skips the middle. Decatastrophizing walks the three futures side by side — worst, best, most likely — and then plans for the version most likely to actually happen.

The feared situation

How catastrophic it feels (0–100)

none

most

Worst-case outcome

Best-case outcome

Most likely outcome

If the worst case happened, what would you actually do? (concrete steps)

What has helped before in similar situations

Plan for the most likely outcome (not the worst)

How catastrophic it feels now (0–100)

none

most

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About this worksheet

Anxiety zooms straight to the worst case and skips the middle. Decatastrophizing built as a three-column table forces the middle back into view: worst case, best case, most likely — side by side. But the intervention isn't the comparison; it's the plan that follows. Two prompts do the work: 'if the worst case happened, what would you actually do' (usually reveals the client already has more coping capacity than the anxiety credits) and 'plan for the most likely outcome' (redirects planning away from the low-probability worst and toward what will probably actually happen). Clients often notice the anxiety drop between the two ratings at the top and bottom of the sheet — evidence in-session that widening the frame changes the felt catastrophe level.

When to use it

Anticipatory anxiety before a specific event.
Medical news and health-decision paralysis.
Career pivots, big moves, or public-facing risk.
Any presentation where the mind runs straight to worst-case.

How to use it

1
Fill the three columns in order
Worst first (the anxiety wants to speak); best second (surprisingly hard); most likely third. Most likely is the working material.
2
Answer the worst-case coping prompt
'If the worst happened, what would you actually do?' The concrete answer is almost always more resourced than the anxiety predicts.
3
Plan for the most-likely, not the worst
Redirects mental prep from a low-probability catastrophe to the outcome that will probably actually arrive.
4
Re-rate the catastrophe level
Compare the pre and post ratings. The drop is in-session evidence for the widening-the-frame intervention.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same as a probability estimate?+

It includes probability implicitly (best/worst are lower-probability; most-likely is higher) without asking the client to assign percentages, which often becomes another anxiety spiral in high-worry presentations.

What if the worst case is actually likely?+

Then it goes in the most-likely column too, and the sheet becomes a coping-plan and grief-preparation tool rather than a probability-correction tool. Both are valid uses.

Is this worksheet free?+

Yes. Free printable PDF. Sign in to send as a secure client link.