How it works...

HabitWorks is designed to help you develop and maintain healthy thinking habits by getting you “unstuck” from a pattern of jumping to negative conclusions.

1. Personalization
Through quick checklists, HabitWorks will personalize your exercise content. The app will deliver thinking habit training personalized just for you!

2. Practice!
You can practice as much as you like– we recommend 3 exercises per week.

3. Persist
Habits take time to change. We recommend using HabitWorks for at least 4 weeks. You will likely not see improvement before meaningful changes in your thinking have occurred, which takes time.

The science behind the app

Read about the scientific studies that have tested HabitWorks!

This study examined the feasibility and acceptability of the HabitWorks app in a clinical sample of adults following discharge from an acute psychiatric setting. Users reported positive experiences with the app, including usability and helpfulness.

Beard, C., McHugh, R. K., Björgvinsson, T., Ramadurai, R., & Pollak, J. P. (2020). HabitWorks: Development of a CBM-I smartphone app to augment and extend acute treatment. Behavior Therapy, 52(2), 365–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2020.04.013

This study found that HabitWorks was a feasible and acceptable low-intensity intervention to help parents of anxious youth challenge their own interpretation bias.

Beard, C., Beckham, E., Solomon, A., Fenley, A. R., & Pincus, D. B. (2021). A Pilot Feasibility Open Trial of an Interpretation Bias Intervention for Parents of Anxious Children. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 29(4), 860–873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2021.09.005

This study examined participant engagement with the HabitWorks app, defining types of engagement and examining patterns of app use.

Ramadurai, R., Beckham, E., McHugh, R. K., Björgvinsson, T., & Beard, C. (2022). Operationalizing Engagement With an Interpretation Bias Smartphone App Intervention: Case Series. JMIR Mental Health, 9(8), e33545. https://doi.org/10.2196/33545

This study found that HabitWorks improved interpretation style, anxiety and depression symptoms in Black and Latinx adults.

Ferguson, I., George, G., Narine, K. O., Turner, A., McGhee, Z., Bajwa, H., Hart, F. G., Carter, S., & Beard, C. (2024). Acceptability and Engagement of a Smartphone-Delivered Interpretation Bias Intervention in a Sample of Black and Latinx Adults: Open Trial. JMIR Mental Health, 11, e56758–e56758. https://doi.org/10.2196/56758

This randomized control trial found that HabitWorks is an engaging and scalable intervention that may be effective for improving overall severity and functioning.

Silverman, A. L., Rotta, G. K., Shin, D., Ferguson, I., & Beard, C. (in press). Randomized Controlled Trial of Smartphone-Based Interpretation Bias Intervention for Anxiety and Depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/9kxga_v2

HabitWorks was based on many studies conducted by our team. See below to learn more about the research that inspired HabitWorks!

1. Beard, C., & Amir, N. (2008). A multi-session interpretation modification program: Changes in interpretation and social anxiety symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46(10), 1135–1141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2008.05.012

2. Amir, N., Weber, G., Beard, C., Bomyea, J., & Taylor, C. T. (2008). The effect of a single-session attention modification program on response to a public-speaking challenge in socially anxious individuals. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117(4), 860–868. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013445

3. Beard, C., & Amir, N. (2009). Interpretation in Social Anxiety: When Meaning Precedes Ambiguity. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 33(4), 406–415. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9235-0

4. Beard, C., & Amir, N. (2009). Negative Interpretation Bias Mediates the Effect of Social Anxiety on State Anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34(3), 292–296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9258-6

5. Amir, N., Bomyea, J., & Beard, C. (2010). The effect of single-session interpretation modification on attention bias in socially anxious individuals. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24(2), 178–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.10.005

6. Beard, C., Weisberg, R. B., & Amir, N. (2011). Combined cognitive bias modification treatment for social anxiety disorder: a pilot trial. Depression and Anxiety, 28(11), 981–988. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20873

7. Beard, C. (2011). Cognitive bias modification for anxiety: current evidence and future directions. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 11(2), 299–311. https://doi.org/10.1586/ern.10.194

8. Beard, C., Weisberg, R. B., & Primack, J. (2011). Socially Anxious Primary Care Patients’ Attitudes Toward Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM): A Qualitative Study. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 40(5), 618–633. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1352465811000671

9. Beard, C., Fuchs, C., Asnaani, A., Schulson, M., Schofield, C. A., Clerkin, E. M., & Weisberg, R. B. (2016). A Pilot Open Trial of Cognitive Bias Modification for Panic Disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 40(6), 792–798. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-016-9790-0

10. Beard, C., Rifkin, L. S., & Björgvinsson, T. (2017). Characteristics of interpretation bias and relationship with suicidality in a psychiatric hospital sample. Journal of Affective Disorders, 207, 321–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.09.021

11. Lichtenthal, W. G., Corner, G. W., Slivjak, E. T., Roberts, K. E., Li, Y., Breitbart, W., Lacey, S., Tuman, M., DuHamel, K. N., Blinder, V. S., & Beard, C. (2017). A pilot randomized controlled trial of cognitive bias modification to reduce fear of breast cancer recurrence. Cancer, 123(8), 1424–1433. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.30478

12. Beard, C., Rifkin, L. S., Silverman, A. L., & Björgvinsson, T. (2019). Translating CBM-I Into Real-World Settings: Augmenting a CBT-Based Psychiatric Hospital Program. Behavior Therapy, 50(3), 515–530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2018.09.002

13. Gonsalves, M., Whittles, R. L., Weisberg, R. B., & Beard, C. (2019). A systematic review of the word sentence association paradigm (WSAP). Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 64, 133–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.04.003

14. Beard, C., Peckham, A. D., Griffin, M. L., Weiss, R. D., Taghian, N., & McHugh, R. K. (2019). Associations among interpretation bias, craving, and abstinence self-efficacy in adults with substance use disorders. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 205, 107644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107644

15. Weisberg, R. B., Gonsalves, M. A., Ramadurai, R., Braham, H., Fuchs, C., & Beard, C. (2021). Development of a cognitive bias modification intervention for anxiety disorders in primary care. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(S1), 73–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12281

16. Falkenstein, M. J., Kelley, K. N., Dattolico, D., Kuckertz, J. M., Bezahler, A., Krompinger, J., Webb, C. A., & Beard, C. (2021). Feasibility and acceptability of cognitive bias modification for interpretation as an adjunctive treatment for OCD and related disorders: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Behavior Therapy, 53(2), 294–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2021.09.002

17. Tuman, M., Roberts, K. E., Corner, G., Beard, C., Fadalla, C., Coats, T., Slivjak, E., Schofield, E., & Lichtenthal, W. G. (2021). Interpretation Bias in Breast Cancer Survivors Experiencing Fear of Cancer Recurrence. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 682174. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.682174

18. Ferguson, I., George, G., Wu, C., Xu, I., Passel, E., Germine, L. T., & Beard, C. (2024). Evaluating the Reliability of the Word-Sentence Association Paradigm (WSAP) as an Interpretation bias Assessment across Ethnoracial Groups. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 49, 425–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-024-10523-8

19. Pradhan, P., Sharpe, L., Russell, H., Todd, J., Lichtenthal, W. G., Beard, C., & Butow, P. (2025). A Double‐Blind Randomized Sham‐Controlled Trial of Two Online Cognitive Bias Modification Interventions for Fear of Cancer Recurrence in People With Breast or Ovarian Cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 34(12). https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.70338

20. Beard, C., & Peckham, A. D. (2020). Interpretation bias modification. In J. S. Abramowitz & S. M. Blakey (Eds.), Clinical handbook of fear and anxiety: Maintenance processes and treatment mechanisms (pp. 359–377). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000150-020