Open-Access Treatment Manuals
Complete treatment manuals that are free and legal to use: public domain publications from SAMHSA, NIDA, NIAAA, and the VA, plus openly licensed protocols from the WHO. The same manuals used in graduate training programs and community clinics, organized by approach, each one paired with the printable worksheets and interactive tools on this site that implement its assignments.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT for Depression (ACT-D) Therapist Manual
A complete 12-session ACT protocol for treating depression, written by Robyn Walser and colleagues for the VA's national therapist training program. Each session includes therapist scripts, sample dialogue, metaphors, mindfulness exercises, and homework, moving from creative hopelessness and control-as-the-problem through acceptance, defusion, values, and committed action.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
ACT for PTSD Group Manual
The VA's session-by-session manual for a 10-week ACT group for veterans with PTSD, written by three VA psychologists at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center. Each 90-minute session gets a full script: willingness and mindfulness, defusion, personal values with a card sort, the observing self, and observing the trauma, plus an optional pre-group individual session.
VA publication, free access
Trauma & PTSD
TIP 57: Trauma-Informed Care
SAMHSA's consensus guide to delivering trauma-informed care in mental health and addiction treatment settings. Part 1 gives clinicians concrete guidance on screening, assessment, and trauma-specific interventions; Part 2 shows administrators how to build a trauma-informed organization and workforce.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) Manuals
The complete VA therapist's manual for Cognitive Processing Therapy adapted for veterans and service members, written by the treatment's developers. It walks through all 12 sessions with sample dialogue, session summaries, and progress notes, and a companion volume contains every patient handout.
VA publication, free access
Depression & Mood
CBT for Depression Therapist Manual
The VA's full protocol for delivering cognitive behavioral therapy to depressed veterans and service members, written by Amy Wenzel, Gregory Brown, and Bradley Karlin. It walks through CBT theory, case conceptualization, session structure, behavioral and cognitive strategies, and relapse prevention, with session-by-session guidance and reproducible clinical forms.
VA publication, free access
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Therapist Guide
A complete therapist guide to Interpersonal Psychotherapy for depression, adapted for veterans as part of the VA's national evidence-based psychotherapy rollout. It walks through the full 16-session protocol across the four IPT problem areas (grief, role disputes, role transitions, interpersonal deficits) and devotes nearly half its pages to six extended case vignettes with session dialogue.
VA publication, free access
Sleep & Chronic Pain
CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I) Therapist Manual
A session-by-session therapist guide to CBT-I, the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia, written by Rachel Manber, Jack Edinger, Colleen Carney, and colleagues for the VA's national CBT-I training rollout. It walks through case conceptualization, sleep restriction, stimulus control, cognitive therapy for unhelpful sleep beliefs, and relapse prevention.
VA publication, free access
CBT for Chronic Pain (CBT-CP) Therapist Manual
The VA's national training manual for delivering cognitive behavioral therapy to adults with chronic pain, built around a structured session-by-session protocol covering pain education, relaxation training, activity pacing, cognitive restructuring, and sleep. It includes three running case examples, assessment guidance, and all therapist and patient worksheets in the appendices.
VA publication, free access
Addiction & Recovery
Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) Manual
The original therapist manual for Motivational Enhancement Therapy, written by William Miller and colleagues for Project MATCH, the large NIAAA trial that compared three treatments for alcohol problems. It lays out a four-session MET protocol built on motivational interviewing and structured personal feedback, with session-by-session instructions, sample therapist language, and guidance for handling resistance and involving a significant other.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
CBT Coping Skills Therapy Manual
The CBT treatment arm manual from Project MATCH, the largest clinical trial of alcohol treatments ever run in the United States. It walks therapists through 12 structured sessions of coping skills training for alcohol use disorder, including managing cravings, drink refusal, problem solving, anger, and planning for high-risk relapse situations.
U.S. government publication with licensed portions
Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy Manual
The therapist manual for Twelve Step Facilitation, one of three treatments tested in Project MATCH. It gives session-by-session guidance for a 12-session program grounded in AA principles, covering core topics like acceptance and surrender, elective topics, and conjoint sessions with a partner.
Public domain (minor third-party exceptions)
CBT for Cocaine Addiction (NIDA Manual 1)
The original evidence-based CBT manual for cocaine addiction, written by Kathleen Carroll at Yale and published by NIDA as the first volume in its Therapy Manuals for Drug Addiction series. It walks through a short-term outpatient treatment session by session: functional analysis of drug use, coping with craving, refusal skills, seemingly irrelevant decisions, problem solving, and relapse prevention.
Public domain (a few copyrighted forms)
Matrix Model IOP Counselor's Manual
The counselor manual for the Matrix Model, a structured 16-week intensive outpatient program for people dependent on stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine. It gives session-by-session talking points, handouts, and protocols for early recovery skills, relapse prevention, family education, and social support groups.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
TIP 35: Enhancing Motivation for Change
SAMHSA's flagship guideline for using motivational interviewing and the stages of change model in addiction treatment. It walks counselors through building rapport, handling ambivalence, drawing out change talk, and matching interventions to a client's readiness, from precontemplation through relapse.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
TIP 41: Group Therapy
SAMHSA's consensus guideline for running group therapy in substance use treatment. It covers the five group models used in addiction work (psychoeducational, skills development, cognitive behavioral, support, and interpersonal process groups), then gets practical about client placement, group development stages, leadership techniques, and handling common problems in session.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
TIP 42: Co-Occurring Disorders
SAMHSA's flagship guideline for treating clients who have both a substance use disorder and a mental health condition. The 2020 update walks through screening, assessment, and integrated treatment planning for depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, ADHD, and psychosis alongside addiction.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
TIP 48: Depression in Early Recovery
A SAMHSA protocol that shows substance use counselors how to recognize and manage depressive symptoms in clients during the first months of recovery. It covers screening, counseling strategies, and when to refer out, with a separate implementation guide for administrators and a full literature review.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Brief Counseling for Marijuana Dependence
A session-by-session protocol for treating adults with cannabis dependence, developed in the Marijuana Treatment Project funded by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. It covers an assessment session plus nine weekly one-on-one sessions: two motivational enhancement sessions followed by seven CBT skill-building sessions, with case management woven in from session three.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Global Protocols (WHO)
Problem Management Plus (PM+)
A WHO manual for a brief five-session intervention that helps adults dealing with depression, anxiety, and stress in communities under hardship. It simplifies core CBT strategies, including problem solving, stress management, behavioral activation, and strengthening social support, so trained helpers without specialist degrees can deliver them.
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO open license)
mhGAP Intervention Guide
WHO's flagship clinical manual for assessing and managing mental, neurological, and substance use disorders in settings without a psychiatrist. Version 2.0 gives step-by-step assessment and management algorithms for depression, psychoses, epilepsy, child and adolescent behavioral disorders, dementia, substance use, and self-harm.
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO open license)
Group IPT for Depression
A complete 8-session group protocol for treating depression with interpersonal therapy, written for the WHO by Lena Verdeli, Kathleen Clougherty, and Myrna Weissman of Columbia University. It walks facilitators through pre-group interviews, the group phase, and termination, with scripts, case examples, and handouts.
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO open license)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Why these manuals are free
Publications authored by U.S. federal agencies are public domain by law, which makes them free to read, print, and use in practice or training. World Health Organization materials are released under open licenses that permit non-commercial use with attribution. Each manual page states its exact license and links to the official source, so you are always downloading from the publisher. Therapy Resource is not affiliated with these agencies; we organize the library and build the worksheets and interactive tools that put the protocols to work in session.