Name: If you can't afford therapy, do this
Uploaded: 2025-11-26T16:52:53.000Z
Duration: 5 min 38 s
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I ran into someone recently who said, I love your videos.

When I couldn't afford therapy, I would just listen to what you were doing with your therapist and copy those things and it really helped me during a dark time.

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So for those of you guys who can't afford therapy, first of all, just in case you didn't know, you can look into sliding scale therapists in your area.

I have several friends who go and pay $20 a session or whatever they can and work with a sliding scale therapist.

But if time or money is just not available to you right now, I wanted to offer some BAS tips that you can utilize.

First off, get real about your foundation.

Look at your sleep schedule, sunlight exposure, nutritional intake, exercise regimen, and

your social interactions and the quality of them.

I know that these basics are really annoying, but having a solid foundation is crucial for mental wellness.

If you're getting like four hours of sleep, never moving, eating junk food, and

living in perpetual darkness, the rest of these tools are not going to matter and they're not going to make a difference.

Step number one is always assessing your base and be really honest with yourself.

Take a good hard look at your lifestyle habits and then strengthen the pillars that need it.

It's free, it's easy, and you don't ever need to reread it if you don't want to.

But getting your thoughts out of your head and on paper is going to clear your mind of them.

Journaling also helps you build a relationship with yourself and take accountability since you don't have that second party available to you now.

In an ideal world, you would mostly stick to gratitude and recognizing your strengths.

So reviewing your week and writing down specific moments you felt you did a good job or exemplified a behavior you're proud of or used a strength of yours.

I also write down lists every day of what I'm getting right, what is good in my life, as well as what I'd like to adjust moving forward.

But in high anxiety moments, it's also helpful to write out all of your thoughts on paper to help you emotionally regulate.

I also write down lists every day of what what I'm getting right and what I'd like to adjust moving forward.

Journaling is also really helpful when you have a high anxiety moment and you need to just emotionally regulate.

But finally, you want to utilize the Thought record CBT exercise.

So thought records are used to teach about the interactions between thoughts, feelings and behaviors as tools for us clients to record our own experiences.

They are a great way to start challenging and changing your irrational thoughts.

So here's a sample Thought Record worksheet if you want to screenshot that right now.

Or you can also just Google Thought Record PDF.

With this you will reflect on an experience and utilize the following prompts.

So for example, let's say you're working on you have a lot of anxiety in the early phase of dating and that's something that's led to self sabotage or overthinking.

So you're like I got to nip that in the budget.

So one Record the situation or circumstance you're in, whether that's a date or waiting to hear from the person after a first date.

Track your moods and rate their intensity.

This can be feelings of inadequacy or unlovability, frustration, anger, defeat.

Track the automatic thoughts that occurred, any memories that came up for you, or noticeable beliefs you had like I'm not worthy of love.

The evidence that supports that thought for this portion, write factual evidence that supports your conclusions.

Well, I technically don't have any evidence other than the fact that I'm single and I haven't heard from this person after a first date.

And then five you're gonna write evidence that does not support the thought.

I can't say that I'll never find love cause I am out here and I am trying.

I have no idea what this person's experience was of me because they haven't communicated it.

And finally six Create alternative balanced thoughts like dating is hard and I'm at least proud of myself that I'm getting out there and showing up and trying.

All I can do is be myself and trust that when it's right it'll work out and that anyone who's really meant for me is going to be communicative about that and show their interest and I can choose to believe I am worthy of love because I am now you can do a thought record for any and all situations, whether it's family, career, friendships, any place that you find yourself wanting to change your patterns and habits.

It's very helpful and I think it's the most effective tool of cbt.

So if you can't afford therapy, these are the tools I would suggest starting out with.

And you know, it doesn't sound like much.

It sounds pretty simple, but it's quite a lot.

I'm Anna Akana thank you to the patrons who supported today's episode.

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