SWOT Analysis is a useful tool for assessing decisions by analyzing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
A fillable version of the resource. This can be edited and saved in Adobe Acrobat, or other PDF editing software.
SWOT Analysis is a tool, originally from management theory, which can help to guide action in the face of uncertainty or ambivalence. Clients can be assisted to explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of action or inaction.
SWOT Analysis supports structured decision-making and informed action.
Challenges in making life decisions due to anxiety or indecision.
Evaluating potential changes in behavior or habit modification.
Coping with stress and planning during major life transitions.
Strategies for setting and achieving personal or professional goals.
Clearly define the action or decision being considered.
Identify potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Engage with clients to discuss each component and its implications.
Use insights from the analysis to guide decision-making and action planning.
Reassess and adjust plans based on new developments or insights.
SWOT Analysis has its roots in the participatory planning processes developed in the early 1960s at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). The original framework — initially termed SOFT — was created by Robert F. Stewart and colleagues in the Theory and Practice of Planning (TAPP) group at SRI (Puyt et al., 2023). SOFT stood for Satisfactory, Opportunity, Fault, and Threat, and was conceived as a collaborative mechanism to engage all levels of management in long-range corporate planning.
Translating this approach to therapy, SWOT Analysis becomes more than a mechanical categorization of pros and cons - it is a structured method for facilitating insight, reflective dialogue, and purposeful planning. Therapists can use SWOT creatively with clients, helping them articulate and evaluate their dilemmas across four dimensions. For clients facing decisions or undergoing transitions, the SWOT framework invites an appraisal of internal capacities and limitations (strengths and weaknesses) and external circumstances (opportunities and threats). It encourages a balanced and contextualized understanding of potential actions and their consequences.
Importantly, the original intent behind the tool was not to produce a static matrix but to stimulate dynamic, ongoing dialogue that integrates contextual information with personal values and capabilities. In therapy, this means therapists should guide clients to see their SWOT analysis not as a fixed diagnosis, but as a living document that evolves as their understanding deepens and circumstances change.
