# Training Models to Generate, Recognize, and Reframe Unhelpful Thoughts

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.02768 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.02768/

## Key facts

- Cited by 31 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Clinical and biomedical applications, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning.
- Builds on 33 of its 72 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Jul 2023.

## Placed in

- LLM reasoning / [Clinical and biomedical applications](https://mlsanity.com/lr/clinical-and-biomedical-applications/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 33)

- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02155/) (2022)
- [Exploring the Limits of Transfer Learning with a Unified Text-to-Text Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.10683/) (2019)
- [RoBERTa: A Robustly Optimized BERT Pretraining Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.11692/) (2019)
- [BART: Denoising Sequence-to-Sequence Pre-training for Natural Language Generation, Translation, and Comprehension](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.13461/) (2019)
- [BERTScore: Evaluating Text Generation with BERT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.09675/) (2019)
- [Prefix-Tuning: Optimizing Continuous Prompts for Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.00190/) (2021)
- [The Power of Scale for Parameter-Efficient Prompt Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.08691/) (2021)
- [Fine-Tuning Language Models from Human Preferences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.08593/) (2019)
- [Hierarchical Neural Story Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.04833/) (2018)
- [A Diversity-Promoting Objective Function for Neural Conversation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1510.03055/) (2015)
- [How Can We Know What Language Models Know?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.12543/) (2019)
- [Exploiting Cloze Questions for Few Shot Text Classification and Natural Language Inference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.07676/) (2020)
- [Personalizing Dialogue Agents: I have a dog, do you have pets too?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.07243/) (2018)
- [Plug and Play Language Models: A Simple Approach to Controlled Text Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.02164/) (2019)
- [CTRL: A Conditional Transformer Language Model for Controllable Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.05858/) (2019)
- [Dear Sir or Madam, May I introduce the GYAFC Dataset: Corpus, Benchmarks and Metrics for Formality Style Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.06535/) (2018)
- [Reducing conversational agents' overconfidence through linguistic calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.14983/) (2020)
- [MentalBERT: Publicly Available Pretrained Language Models for Mental Healthcare](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.15621/) (2021)
- [ParlAI: A Dialog Research Software Platform](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.06476/) (2017)
- [Language Models that Seek for Knowledge: Modular Search & Generation for Dialogue and Prompt Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.13224/) (2022)
- [Few-Shot Text Generation with Pattern-Exploiting Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.11926/) (2020)
- [Controllable Sentence Simplification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.02677/) (2019)
- [MEGATRON-CNTRL: Controllable Story Generation with External Knowledge Using Large-Scale Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.00840/) (2020)
- [Tailor: Generating and Perturbing Text with Semantic Controls](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.07150/) (2021)
- [Data Boost: Text Data Augmentation Through Reinforcement Learning Guided Conditional Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.02952/) (2020)
- [PAIR: Planning and Iterative Refinement in Pre-trained Transformers for Long Text Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02301/) (2020)
- [Inducing Positive Perspectives with Text Reframing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02952/) (2022)
- [A Review of Human Evaluation for Style Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.04747/) (2021)
- [Towards Preemptive Detection of Depression and Anxiety in Twitter](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.05249/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 31)

- [Challenges and Applications of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10169/) (2023)
- [Cactus: Towards Psychological Counseling Conversations using Cognitive Behavioral Theory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.03103/) (2024)
- [HealMe: Harnessing Cognitive Reframing in Large Language Models for Psychotherapy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05574/) (2024)
- [CBT-LLM: A Chinese Large Language Model for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-based Mental Health Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.16008/) (2024)
- [Benefits and Harms of Large Language Models in Digital Mental Health](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.14693/) (2023)
- [Empowering Psychotherapy with Large Language Models: Cognitive Distortion Detection through Diagnosis of Thought Prompting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.07146/) (2023)
- [Sentient Agent as a Judge: Evaluating Higher-Order Social Cognition in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.02847/) (2025)
- [Large Language Models are Capable of Offering Cognitive Reappraisal, if Guided](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.01288/) (2024)
- [MIRROR: Multimodal Cognitive Reframing Therapy for Rolling with Resistance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13211/) (2025)
- [CBT-Bench: Evaluating Large Language Models on Assisting Cognitive Behavior Therapy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13218/) (2024)
- [A Survey of Large Language Models in Psychotherapy: Current Landscape and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.11095/) (2025)
- [RainbowPlus: Enhancing Adversarial Prompt Generation via Evolutionary Quality-Diversity Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.15047/) (2025)
- [Crisp: Cognitive Restructuring of Negative Thoughts through Multi-turn Supportive Dialogues](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.17238/) (2025)
- [Feel the Difference? A Comparative Analysis of Emotional Arcs in Real and LLM-Generated CBT Sessions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.20764/) (2025)
- [Preference Learning Unlocks LLMs' Psycho-Counseling Skills](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.19731/) (2025)
- [Just a Scratch: Enhancing LLM Capabilities for Self-harm Detection through Intent Differentiation and Emoji Interpretation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.05073/) (2025)
- [DiaCBT: A Long-Periodic Dialogue Corpus Guided by Cognitive Conceptualization Diagram for CBT-based Psychological Counseling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.02999/) (2025)
- [Exploratory Study into Relations between Cognitive Distortions and Emotional Appraisals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.15979/) (2025)
- [A Comprehensive Review of Datasets for Clinical Mental Health AI Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.09809/) (2025)
- [A Survey of Cognitive Distortion Detection and Classification in NLP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.09878/) (2025)
- [RedBench: A Universal Dataset for Comprehensive Red Teaming of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.03699/) (2026)
- [A Generic Review of Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.19422/) (2024)
- [Graph2Counsel: Clinically Grounded Synthetic Counseling Dialogue Generation from Client Psychological Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.20382/) (2026)
- [A Multi-Agent Dual Dialogue System to Support Mental Health Care Providers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.18429/) (2024)
- [CCD-CBT: Multi-Agent Therapeutic Interaction for CBT Guided by Cognitive Conceptualization Diagram](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.06551/) (2026)
- [Carrot and Stick: Inducing Self-Motivation with Positive & Negative Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.16521/) (2024)
- [The Art of Socratic Inquiry: A Framework for Proactive Template-Guided Therapeutic Conversation Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.01598/) (2026)
- [PSY-STEP: Structuring Therapeutic Targets and Action Sequences for Proactive Counseling Dialogue Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.04448/) (2026)
- [StageWell: A Process-Aligned Chinese Corpus for Positive-Psychology Support Dialogue](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.29326/) (2026)
- [Steering the Compass: Aligning Dynamic Psychological Counseling Conversations with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Strategies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.20565/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Many cognitive approaches to well-being, such as recognizing and reframing unhelpful thoughts, have received considerable empirical support over the past decades, yet still lack truly widespread adoption in self-help format. A barrier to that adoption is a lack of adequately specific and diverse dedicated practice material. This work examines whether current language models can be leveraged to both produce a virtually unlimited quantity of practice material illustrating standard unhelpful thought patterns matching specific given contexts, and generate suitable positive reframing proposals. We propose PATTERNREFRAME, a novel dataset of about 10k examples of thoughts containing unhelpful thought patterns conditioned on a given persona, accompanied by about 27k positive reframes. By using this dataset to train and/or evaluate current models, we show that existing models can already be powerful tools to help generate an abundance of tailored practice material and hypotheses, with no or minimal additional model training required.