{"schema_version":"1.0","id":"cbt-cards-content-guides-v1","name":"CBT Cards contrasts, progressions and decision rules","canonical":"https://cbt-cards.github.io/data/content-guides.json","human_url":"https://cbt-cards.github.io/library/guides/","updated":"2026-08-24","locale":"en","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/","rights_basis":"cbt_cards_original","publication_status":"published","clinical_validation_status":"not_claimed","editorial_role":"A navigation and explanation layer around existing reviewed practices. These records compare concepts, show gradual paths, and narrow choices; they are not an independent diagnosis or treatment router.","safety_boundary":"General wellness and self-reflection only. Genuine danger, protective boundaries, required safety/professional/accessibility rules, and medical/legal/financial/safeguarding decisions override these guides. When a guide conflicts with a linked reviewed practice, the practice safety boundary controls.","collections":[{"id":"contrasts","title":"Contrasts","purpose":"Distinguish two similar-looking processes by one practical discriminator.","canonical_url":"https://cbt-cards.github.io/library/guides/#contrasts","record_count":6},{"id":"progressions","title":"Progressions","purpose":"Show a gradual sequence from a stuck loop toward one reviewed practice mechanism without demanding a large jump.","canonical_url":"https://cbt-cards.github.io/library/guides/#progressions","record_count":6},{"id":"decision-rules","title":"Decision rules","purpose":"Use a small question to choose between existing reviewed practices or preserve a safety boundary.","canonical_url":"https://cbt-cards.github.io/library/guides/#decision-rules","record_count":6}],"records":[{"id":"contrast-observation-interpretation","type":"contrast","title":"Observation vs Interpretation","side_a":{"label":"Observation","description":"What could be recorded by a camera, message log, clock, document, or another direct source without adding a conclusion."},"side_b":{"label":"Interpretation","description":"The meaning, motive, prediction, or judgement added to the observation."},"discriminator":"Ask whether a neutral observer with the same raw information would necessarily write the same sentence.","common_mistake":"Treating interpretation as worthless. An interpretation may be reasonable; the point is to know which part is observed and which part is inferred.","related_practice_ids":["practice-test-your-prediction"],"evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-thought-record"]},{"id":"contrast-reflection-replay","type":"contrast","title":"Reflection vs Replay","side_a":{"label":"Reflection","description":"Review that produces a new fact, decision, repair, lesson, or next action."},"side_b":{"label":"Replay","description":"Review that repeats the same material after the useful output has stopped changing."},"discriminator":"What new information or usable action did the last round produce?","common_mistake":"Stopping simply because the topic is uncomfortable. If important information, accountability, or a concrete decision is still missing, more review may be useful.","related_practice_ids":["practice-reflection-or-replay"],"evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-worries","ev-editorial-low-risk"]},{"id":"contrast-useful-check-certainty-check","type":"contrast","title":"Useful Check vs Certainty-Seeking Check","side_a":{"label":"Useful check","description":"A check that obtains genuinely missing information, satisfies a real requirement, or prevents a plausible material error."},"side_b":{"label":"Certainty-seeking check","description":"An extra check whose main job is to make an ordinary low-risk decision feel completely certain."},"discriminator":"If the check produced no new information, would it still feel necessary because uncertainty remains?","common_mistake":"Calling a required safety, professional, legal, compliance, or accessibility check “reassurance.” Required checks stay required.","related_practice_ids":["practice-one-less-check","practice-spot-the-safety-behavior"],"evidence_ids":["ev-editorial-low-risk","ev-nice-social-anxiety"]},{"id":"contrast-problem-hypothetical-worry","type":"contrast","title":"Practical Problem vs Hypothetical Worry","side_a":{"label":"Practical problem","description":"There is a concrete action available now or at a known time that can materially address the concern."},"side_b":{"label":"Hypothetical worry","description":"The concern mainly asks for certainty about a future possibility that cannot currently be resolved by more analysis."},"discriminator":"Can you name a specific next action that changes the situation rather than only changing how certain you feel?","common_mistake":"Using “hypothetical” to dismiss a real problem. If a practical action exists, preserve it.","related_practice_ids":["practice-problem-or-worry","practice-park-and-return"],"evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-problem-solving","ev-nhs-worries"]},{"id":"contrast-high-standard-moving-standard","type":"contrast","title":"High Standard vs Moving Standard","side_a":{"label":"High standard","description":"A demanding but stable criterion that can be stated before the next round of work."},"side_b":{"label":"Moving standard","description":"A criterion that changes after each pass, so meeting the previous requirement never permits completion."},"discriminator":"Could you write the finish criteria now and agree not to raise them merely because stopping feels uncomfortable?","common_mistake":"Assuming every strict standard is perfectionism. Safety, accuracy, compliance, and professional requirements may legitimately be exacting.","related_practice_ids":["practice-good-enough-contract"],"evidence_ids":["ev-cci-perfectionism"]},{"id":"contrast-responsibility-identity","type":"contrast","title":"Responsibility vs Identity Verdict","side_a":{"label":"Responsibility","description":"A specific account of what happened, its impact, and what can be repaired, learned, or changed."},"side_b":{"label":"Identity verdict","description":"A global label about the whole person derived from one event or limited set of events."},"discriminator":"Does the sentence identify a behavior or choice that can be reviewed, or does it end the analysis with a person-level label?","common_mistake":"Using specificity to erase harm. A behavior-level description should preserve real responsibility and repair.","related_practice_ids":["practice-behavior-not-identity","practice-same-standard-check"],"evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-thought-record","ev-editorial-low-risk"]},{"id":"progression-prediction-to-observation","type":"progression","title":"From Prediction to Observation","goal":"Move from a feared conclusion to one bounded piece of information.","steps":["Write the prediction in one sentence.","Name what observable result would count as relevant information.","Choose only an ordinary, reversible, low-risk observation or test.","Record what happened without rewriting the prediction after the fact.","Update confidence by degree rather than demanding a total verdict."],"stop_condition":"Stop if the action would involve genuine danger, a required rule, a high-stakes decision, or an irreversible material consequence.","related_practice_ids":["practice-test-your-prediction"],"evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-thought-record","ev-nice-social-anxiety"]},{"id":"progression-rechecking-to-clear-review","type":"progression","title":"From Rechecking to One Clear Review","goal":"Separate required checking from extra checking used mainly to remove uncertainty.","steps":["List the checks that are actually required by the task or real-world risk.","Complete those required checks normally.","Identify one additional check that is clearly non-essential in this ordinary low-risk situation.","Skip only that extra check and continue with the decision.","Observe both the outcome and the urge to check again."],"stop_condition":"Do not reduce safety, legal, professional, compliance, accessibility, safeguarding, or other materially protective checks.","related_practice_ids":["practice-one-less-check","practice-spot-the-safety-behavior"],"evidence_ids":["ev-editorial-low-risk","ev-nice-social-anxiety"]},{"id":"progression-avoidance-to-approach","type":"progression","title":"From Avoiding to Approaching","goal":"Make contact with one safe part of an avoided task without turning the first step into a demand for completion.","steps":["Name the safe task in concrete terms.","Shrink the first action until it is observable and short.","Do that step without requiring motivation to arrive first.","Review what direct contact taught about the task.","Choose the next step from actual experience rather than from the original imagined whole."],"stop_condition":"Do not use approach language to override genuine danger, protective boundaries, recovery needs, accessibility needs, or qualified professional guidance.","related_practice_ids":["practice-smallest-approach-step"],"evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-facing-fears","ev-nice-social-anxiety"]},{"id":"progression-polishing-to-stopping","type":"progression","title":"From Endless Polishing to a Stopping Rule","goal":"Replace an undefined feeling of done with criteria that can actually be met.","steps":["State the purpose and audience of the task.","Write three fit-for-purpose completion criteria before another pass.","Do only the work needed to meet those criteria.","Check the result against the written criteria rather than against the discomfort of stopping.","Use later real feedback to revise future criteria if necessary."],"stop_condition":"Use only where quality is discretionary. Required exactness, safety, compliance, accuracy, or professional standards control.","related_practice_ids":["practice-good-enough-contract","practice-continuum-not-verdict"],"evidence_ids":["ev-cci-perfectionism","ev-nhs-thought-record"]},{"id":"progression-identity-to-specific-review","type":"progression","title":"From Identity Attack to Specific Review","goal":"Keep accountability while moving from a global label to something reviewable.","steps":["Write the global label exactly as it appears.","Replace it with the specific behavior, choice, omission, or skill issue that occurred.","Name the real consequence without enlarging it beyond the available facts.","Identify any repair, learning, or next action.","Compare the standard with the one you would use for another person in genuinely similar circumstances."],"stop_condition":"Do not use reframing to minimize harm, avoid accountability, or erase materially different duties and responsibilities.","related_practice_ids":["practice-behavior-not-identity","practice-same-standard-check"],"evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-thought-record","ev-cci-perfectionism","ev-editorial-low-risk"]},{"id":"progression-worry-to-deliberate-review","type":"progression","title":"From Worry Loop to Deliberate Review","goal":"Protect practical action while limiting repeated engagement with a non-urgent unresolved possibility.","steps":["State the concern in one sentence.","Ask whether a practical action is available now or at a known time.","If yes, define and schedule that action.","If no and the concern is non-urgent, record it once and choose a later review point.","At review time, check whether any new information or action exists; if not, end the review deliberately."],"stop_condition":"Do not postpone urgent action, concrete risk, required decisions, or problems where delay could materially worsen the situation.","related_practice_ids":["practice-problem-or-worry","practice-park-and-return","practice-reflection-or-replay"],"evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-problem-solving","ev-nhs-worries","ev-editorial-low-risk"]},{"id":"decision-action-or-worry","type":"decision_rule","title":"Can More Thinking Produce a Practical Action?","question":"Can you name a concrete action that can reasonably change the situation now or at a known time?","if_yes":{"route":"practice-problem-or-worry","guidance":"Protect the practical problem-solving step. Define the action and when it will happen."},"if_no":{"route":"practice-park-and-return","guidance":"If the concern is non-urgent, record it once and choose a deliberate later review point instead of reopening it continuously."},"safety_override":"Urgent risk, safeguarding, or time-sensitive concrete problems should not be postponed by this rule.","evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-problem-solving","ev-nhs-worries"],"related_practice_ids":["practice-problem-or-worry","practice-park-and-return"]},{"id":"decision-required-or-extra-check","type":"decision_rule","title":"Required Check or Extra Check?","question":"Does this check satisfy a real safety, professional, legal, compliance, accessibility, safeguarding, or materially protective requirement?","if_yes":{"route":"no_reflection_reduction","guidance":"Keep the check. A reflection exercise does not override a genuine requirement."},"if_no":{"route":"practice-one-less-check","guidance":"Only in an ordinary low-risk situation, consider skipping one clearly non-essential check and observe what happens."},"safety_override":"When uncertain whether a check is genuinely protective, preserve it rather than using this rule to remove it.","evidence_ids":["ev-editorial-low-risk","ev-nice-social-anxiety"],"related_practice_ids":["practice-one-less-check","practice-spot-the-safety-behavior"]},{"id":"decision-hard-to-start-or-stop","type":"decision_rule","title":"Hard to Start or Hard to Stop?","question":"Is the main bottleneck that you cannot begin a safe task, or that you cannot decide when an ordinary discretionary task is finished?","if_yes":{"route":"practice-smallest-approach-step","guidance":"If starting is the bottleneck, shrink the first safe action until it is small enough to approach."},"if_no":{"route":"practice-good-enough-contract","guidance":"If stopping is the bottleneck, define fit-for-purpose completion criteria before doing another pass."},"safety_override":"Do not lower required exactness or approach situations that are genuinely unsafe or protected by legitimate boundaries.","evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-facing-fears","ev-cci-perfectionism"],"related_practice_ids":["practice-smallest-approach-step","practice-good-enough-contract"]},{"id":"decision-event-or-identity","type":"decision_rule","title":"Specific Event or Whole-Person Verdict?","question":"Are you reviewing a specific behavior or outcome, or turning it into a global statement about who you are?","if_yes":{"route":"practice-continuum-not-verdict","guidance":"For a specific outcome that varies by degree, describe concrete dimensions instead of one total success/failure verdict."},"if_no":{"route":"practice-behavior-not-identity","guidance":"If the statement is person-level, translate it back into the specific behavior, choice, or skill that can actually be reviewed."},"safety_override":"Specific language should preserve real responsibility, consequences, and repair rather than soften them away.","evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-thought-record","ev-cci-perfectionism","ev-editorial-low-risk"],"related_practice_ids":["practice-continuum-not-verdict","practice-behavior-not-identity"]},{"id":"decision-prediction-or-observation","type":"decision_rule","title":"Prediction or Observation?","question":"Is the difficult sentence directly observed, or is it a prediction or interpretation about what the facts mean?","if_yes":{"route":"use_observed_information","guidance":"If it is directly observed, do not dispute the fact merely because it is uncomfortable; decide what action the fact calls for."},"if_no":{"route":"practice-test-your-prediction","guidance":"If it is a prediction and a safe observable question exists, separate the prediction from the evidence and test only at ordinary low stakes."},"safety_override":"Do not turn medical, legal, financial, safeguarding, or other high-stakes uncertainty into a self-directed behavioral experiment.","evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-thought-record","ev-nice-social-anxiety"],"related_practice_ids":["practice-test-your-prediction"]},{"id":"decision-new-information-or-replay","type":"decision_rule","title":"New Information or Another Replay?","question":"Did the last round of thinking produce a new fact, decision, repair, lesson, or concrete next action?","if_yes":{"route":"continue_brief_review","guidance":"Continue only as long as the review is producing genuinely new usable output."},"if_no":{"route":"practice-reflection-or-replay","guidance":"If the main material is repeating and the issue is non-urgent, end the review deliberately. If it is future-focused worry, scheduled review may fit better."},"safety_override":"Do not stop analysis when important information, accountability, or a concrete decision is still genuinely missing.","evidence_ids":["ev-nhs-worries","ev-editorial-low-risk"],"related_practice_ids":["practice-reflection-or-replay","practice-park-and-return"]}]}