Taking Thoughts to Court (Thought Challenging)
Put a distressing belief on trial and weigh the real evidence
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 85%
This is the classic CBT thought-challenging move, framed by Julie Smith as taking the thought to court. You isolate the exact belief causing pain and rate how strongly you buy it, often 100%. Then you assemble evidence for it, not just opinions but the kind that would stand up in court, and evidence against it, the parts of reality the belief ignores. You examine both sides honestly, enlisting a friend when you're too stuck to see alternatives. Finally you re-rate belief. The goal is not to prove the thought false but to loosen it: dropping from 100% to 60-70% counts as success, because you've allowed room for other interpretations. If challenging only triggers 'yeah but' rumination, she recommends switching to defusion instead.
Origin
A core Cognitive Behavioural Therapy technique that Dr Julie Smith uses clinically and teaches in her work. Extracted from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal.
Core principles
- 01A distressing belief is a hypothesis, not a verdict
- 02Opinion is not the same as courtroom-grade evidence
- 03The aim is to loosen a belief, not flip it on its head
- 04Progress is measured, not binary
- 05Some beliefs are too sticky for logic alone and need defusion instead
How to run it
- 1
Name the thought and rate belief
Write the exact distressing thought and score how much you believe it from 0 to 100 percent.
Pro tip Starting at 100% is common and completely normal.
- 2
Gather evidence for
List what genuinely supports the thought, distinguishing real evidence from mere opinion.
Pro tip Ask what would actually stand up in court, not just what feels true.
- 3
Gather evidence against
List everything suggesting the thought isn't true, or isn't the best reflection of reality right now.
Pro tip Enlist a trusted friend if you're too stuck to generate the other side.
- 4
Re-rate the belief
Score belief again. Any drop, say from 100% to 70%, is progress: you've loosened your grip and allowed other views.
Pro tip Aim to loosen, not to turn the thought completely on its head.
Watch out If your mind just fires back 'yeah but' repeatedly, stop and switch to thought defusion.
In the wild
Ali tests the belief 'I can't grow my business because it will make my life more stressful'. Asked 'is that true, is that really true, have you examined all the evidence?', he sees he never checked the assumption that growth always means more owner stress, then writes the reverse: the more it grows, the less stressed I'll be, and finds reasons to support it.
→ The limiting belief loosens and a truer, more flexible view appears.
Smith describes a client rating a distressing thought at 100% belief. After thought-challenging exercises they re-rate it at 60-70%. She frames that as clear success, movement and progress, because the person can now consider other ways of seeing the situation.
→ Belief drops enough to reduce distress without forcing false positivity.
Common mistakes
Expecting a single turning point
Especially in depression there's rarely one 'aha' that fixes everything; it's chipping away, layer by layer, over time.
Pushing challenge on sticky beliefs
For some people arguing the evidence sets up an internal argument that deepens distress; defusion is the better tool there.
Is it for you?
Best for
People stuck on a specific, examinable belief they treat as obvious fact.
Not ideal for
Beliefs so entrenched that challenging them only fuels back-and-forth rumination.
From the transcript
“where is the evidence not only in my opinions but what evidence would stand up in court to say this is true and then looking…”
“that might go from 100% to 60 or 70% and that's success right so that's just slightly loosening”
From the episode
Leading Psychologist: How To Finally Overcome Stress & Anxiety - Dr Julie Smith
Dr Julie Smith