v1.3.03 loop iterations

AI Therapy Journal

Structured CBT-style journaling prompts that bring clarity to what you're feeling — without pretending to be therapy. The skill is honest about the line: it's a journaling tool, not a clinician.

What this skill does

Scope first — this is not therapy. The skill says so up front, in plain language, every session. It runs structured journaling prompts grounded in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) techniques. It does not diagnose, does not treat, and does not replace a clinician. If the user is in crisis or describing severe distress, the skill stops the exercise and points them to professional help. That boundary is not decoration — it's the brand.

Inside that scope, the skill offers five exercises and picks the right one for the situation. The Thought Record is the CBT workhorse: situation, emotion, automatic thought, evidence for and against, balanced thought, re-rated emotion. It's the right tool when you're stuck in a loop. Emotion Dump is unstructured venting for when you don't need a framework yet. Pattern Spotter is for "this keeps happening" — three instances back, what do they share, what belief is driving them. Future Self Letter is for decisions and transitions. Worry Triage sorts competing anxieties into four boxes — within your control or not, urgent or not — so you know which deserve action and which deserve release.

The skill names cognitive distortions when it spots them — catastrophising, mind-reading, fortune-telling, black-and-white thinking — but gently, as patterns in the thought, not labels on the person. It validates the feeling before challenging the thought. The goal isn't to feel better artificially; it's to see the situation more accurately. Sometimes the balanced thought is "this IS hard and I AM struggling, but I have evidence I can handle hard things." That counts as progress.

It's most useful when used repeatedly. One entry is a useful exercise; twenty entries reveal patterns no single session can. The skill tracks themes over time so the recurring beliefs become visible — which is where the actual shifts happen.

When this triggers

·You're stuck in a thought loop and need to get it out of your head and onto a page
·You want to challenge a specific anxious thought with the standard CBT thought record
·You keep ending up in the same emotional situation and want to surface the pattern
·You're facing a decision and want to write to your future self about it
·You have several worries competing for attention and need them triaged

Example

Trigger

User says: 'I can't stop thinking about the meeting tomorrow. I'm convinced I'm going to embarrass myself.'

Output

Reminder: this is journaling, not therapy. If distress is severe, talk to a professional. Otherwise — let's run a Thought Record. SITUATION (just the facts): [What's actually happening tomorrow — described as a camera would see it] EMOTION + INTENSITY: anxious (85/100), dreading (70/100) AUTOMATIC THOUGHT: "I'm going to embarrass myself." EVIDENCE FOR: [what's actually pointing this way — 2 lines] EVIDENCE AGAINST: [past meetings that went fine, prep you've done — 3 lines] DISTORTION SPOTTED: fortune telling + catastrophizing BALANCED THOUGHT: "Tomorrow might be hard. I've handled hard meetings before. I don't know how it'll go yet." RE-RATE: anxious (60/100). Lower, not zero — and that's fine. Clarity is the goal, not emotional erasure.

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What you get

153-line SKILL.md, ready to drop into ~/.claude/skills/
Tested through 3 Karpathy-loop iterations (versions v1.0.0 → v1.3.0)
Triggers automatically when relevant — no command to remember
Lifetime updates as the skill is refined further