Conducting behavioural experiments to test your fears involves going outside of your comfort zone.
It's important to do this one step at a time, rather than trying to do the hardest possible thing first.
Sometimes, if you try to tackle your biggest fear straight away, it can end up being too overwhelming, or it may leave you more anxious than when you started.
Think about an issue or situation that you feel anxious about and would like to change. This could be something like talking to other students, meeting new people, or public speaking.
Decide on your end goal, e.g. giving a class presentation without extreme fear or distress.
Plan some tasks that are less anxiety-provoking than your end goal that you can try first to build up your confidence - you can list these in order from most anxiety provoking at the top, to least anxiety provoking at the bottom.
Working through your behavioural experiment stepladder is about taking one small step at a time. You begin with a more manageable step and gradually work your way up to more challenging steps.
It can be helpful to repeat experiments in close succession to build your confidence before you move onto the next step.
When completing the steps, remember that you’ll probably experience some anxiety or discomfort. That’s why the stepladder helps you to start small and work your way up. This gives you the chance to get used to that level of anxiety - remember that your anxiety can't and won't last forever. You can get used to these feelings by experiencing them.
It might be tempting to leave or stop if you feel uncomfortable when completing the steps, but it is very important to stay in the situation until you have had a chance to feel some reduction in your anxiety. You can keep practicing steps until you feel very little anxiety associated with them. Staying in the situation can give you the opportunity to learn that as frightening as the anxious feelings are, they are not dangerous and they do decrease. You might also learn that you are better able to cope with feeling anxious than you thought you were.
If you have tried it a few times and you still find it distressing, you may find it useful to create an ‘in-between’ step, by planning another step that is slightly less distressing and has a slightly lower anxiety rating. You may also find it helpful to go back and repeat the previous step. Sometimes, if it has been a while since you’ve completed a behavioural experiment, you may find it helpful to repeat it to build your confidence in what you have learned. This can help you feel ready for the next step.
When you have completed a particular step, make sure to give yourself credit for your success. This can be hard work, and it helps to remind yourself of the progress you are making rather than just focusing on the eventual goal at the top of your stepladder.
Below is an example of a behavioural stepladder:
GOAL: To give a presentation at uni without extreme fear or distress
| Step | How anxious this makes me feel (out of 10) |
| Give a presentation in a tutorial | 10 |
| Give a practice presentation to a few fellow students | 9 |
| Give a practice presentation to my family/friends | 8 |
| Attend a tutorial and say at least two things | 7 |
| Attend a tutorial and say at least one thing | 6 |
| Make small talk with other students while waiting for class to start | 5 |
| Reply to a group email/online discussion and make my own suggestion | 4 |
| Reply to a group email/online discussion and agree with what someone else wrote | 3 |
Use the tool below to plan your stepladder. There is no right or wrong number of steps - so feel free to add more steps or use less steps than the spaces provided.
TIP: When thinking about the steps, consider what would make it harder or easier for you to complete the experiment. Who is there? What you are doing? How long are you doing it for? When will you do it? Where will you do it? By changing these variables you can create harder or easier steps.
Click on each step to view tasks
Enter a task and an anxiety rating for that task below (e.g. Talk to another student before class. Anxiety: 3/10).
When you have added and saved your task, click "Add new steps" to add the next task. Don't forget - start with tasks that cause less anxiety first, and then build up to more challenging tasks.
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