Chain Analysis
A step-by-step worksheet for reconstructing the chain of events, thoughts, feelings, urges and actions that led to a problem behaviour, then identifying where the chain could be broken next time. The core DBT tool for understanding impulsive or harmful behaviour.
About this resource
Behavioural chain analysis is the central assessment method in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. When a client has engaged in a target behaviour (substance use, self-harm, a binge, an outburst, avoidance), the clinician and client reconstruct the sequence in fine detail: the vulnerability factors that were already present, the prompting event, and every link of thought, emotion, sensation, urge and action that followed, through to the behaviour itself and its consequences. The analysis is non-judgemental and treats the behaviour as the understandable end of a chain rather than a moral failure.
Its power lies in specificity. Clients typically describe impulsive behaviour as coming from nowhere ('I just did it'). Slowing the sequence down almost always reveals a series of small links, each of which was an opportunity to do something different. The second half of the analysis, the solution analysis, asks what skill or action could have replaced each link. Over repeated analyses, clients learn to notice earlier links and intervene sooner.
This worksheet is suitable for adults in DBT programmes and for any client working on impulsive or habitual behaviours, including those in addiction treatment where it complements relapse analysis. The professional version includes a full worked example, prompts for eliciting links when the client says 'I don't know', and notes on managing shame during the analysis.
How to use it
- Complete the first chain analysis in session, using the most recent episode of the target behaviour. Choose one specific episode, not a pattern.
- Start by defining the behaviour precisely (what was done, when, for how long) and then move backwards to the prompting event and forward through each link. Aim for small links; if the client jumps from 'he texted me' to 'I used', ask what happened in between, step by step.
- Identify vulnerability factors separately: sleep, food, substances, illness, unresolved conflict earlier in the day. These often explain why the same prompt produced the behaviour this time and not last time.
- Record consequences honestly, including the short-term relief. The behaviour persists because it works in some way, and naming that reduces shame and clarifies what a replacement must offer.
- Do the solution analysis last. Go back through the links and mark two or three where a skill could have been used. Be concrete: which skill, and what would it have looked like in that moment?
- Ask the client to complete a chain on their own after any further episode and bring it to session. The analysis itself is also a form of exposure to the memory and a deterrent to the behaviour.
References
- Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. Guilford Press.
- Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
- Rizvi, S. L., & Ritschel, L. A. (2014). Mastering the art of chain analysis in dialectical behavior therapy. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 21(3), 335-349.
