If you’ve ever Googled “how to write therapy notes,” you’ve run into at least two formats: SOAP and DAP. Both are widely used. Both are defensible. And therapists argue about which is better with surprising intensity.
The honest answer: neither is objectively superior. What matters is whether you’re using your chosen format correctly and consistently — and whether it actually works for the kind of clinical work you do.
This article explains both formats with filled examples, compares them across practical criteria, mentions a few other formats worth knowing, and helps you figure out which fits your practice.
SOAP notes: structure and example
SOAP stands for Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan.
It originated in medicine and was adopted by mental health clinicians because it mirrors how physicians document patient encounters. It’s still the dominant format in hospital and agency settings.
What each section contains
S — Subjective
What the client reports: their description of how they’ve been, what brought them in today, their symptoms in their own words. This is the client’s voice, their perspective.
What to include: mood self-report, presenting concerns for the session, relevant events since the last session, direct quotes where useful
What to avoid: your observations, your interpretations, objective data
O — Objective
What you observe: the clinician’s factual, observable data. Not what the client said, but what you saw and measured.
What to include: mental status observations (appearance, affect, behavior, speech, cognition), any standardized measures administered (PHQ-9 score, GAD-7, etc.), attendance and punctuality
What to avoid: interpretations, diagnostic conclusions, anything that isn’t directly observable
A — Assessment
Your clinical interpretation: what you make of the subjective and objective data. This is where your clinical reasoning goes — diagnosis, functional status, treatment progress, risk.
What to include: current diagnosis and any changes, progress toward treatment goals, risk assessment, clinical formulation if relevant
What to avoid: repeating what was in S or O without adding clinical interpretation
P — Plan
What happens next: interventions used this session, homework assigned, next session focus, referrals, any changes to the treatment plan.
What to include: techniques used today, between-session tasks, next appointment, any coordination with other providers
Filled SOAP note example
Client: M.T., session 11
Date: May 18, 2026 | Duration: 50 min
S: Client reports “a really rough week” — conflict with sister escalated to client leaving family dinner abruptly. Reports sleep has been poor (4–5 hours/night for 5 days). States anxiety has been “constantly around an 8 out of 10.” Denies suicidal ideation. Notes one positive: completed the behavioral activation task (30-min walk, 3x this week).
O: Arrived on time, appropriately dressed. Appears tired; mild psychomotor slowing noted. Affect restricted but reactive — visible softening when discussing the walk. Speech is normal rate and volume. Oriented x3. PHQ-9 administered: score 14 (moderate), down from 17 at intake. No formal thought disorder observed.
A: Client continues to meet criteria for MDD, moderate (F32.1). Session-to-session improvement in PHQ-9 consistent with early treatment response. Behavioral activation is producing early mood lift — client acknowledged this independently. Sleep disruption and conflict avoidance remain primary functional impairments. Risk: no suicidal ideation, plan, or intent. Protective factors stable (employment, housing, therapeutic engagement). Risk assessed as low.
P: Used behavioral activation review and introduced sleep hygiene psychoeducation (stimulus control, sleep restriction basics). Assigned: continue walks + add 10-min wind-down routine before bed. Next session focus: cognitive restructuring around conflict with sister — client agreed this is the priority. Follow-up in 7 days.
DAP notes: structure and example
DAP stands for Data, Assessment, Plan.
It’s a streamlined format designed specifically for mental health practice. Rather than separating subjective and objective information into two sections, DAP merges them into a single Data section — which most therapists find faster and more natural to write.
What each section contains
D — Data
Everything you observed and everything the client reported — combined. This is both the subjective (client’s words, reported experiences) and the objective (your clinical observations, mental status, measures).
What to include: client’s self-report, relevant events since last session, your observations of affect and behavior, any measures administered, relevant quotes
What to avoid: clinical interpretation, conclusions — those go in Assessment
A — Assessment
Same as SOAP’s Assessment: your clinical reasoning about what the data means. Progress toward goals, diagnostic status, risk, formulation.
P — Plan
Same as SOAP’s Plan: what you did this session, what you assigned, what’s next.
Filled DAP note example
Client: M.T., session 11
Date: May 18, 2026 | Duration: 50 min
D: Client reports a difficult week following a conflict with her sister at a family dinner; left the event abruptly and has been ruminating since. Sleep disrupted (4–5 hours/night x 5 days). Self-rated anxiety “constantly around 8/10.” Denies SI. Positive: completed behavioral activation task (30-min walk, 3 times). Arrived on time; appeared tired with mild psychomotor slowing. Affect restricted but reactive — notable softening when discussing the walks. Speech normal. PHQ-9: 14 (moderate), improved from 17 at intake.
A: MDD moderate (F32.1), consistent with previous presentation. PHQ-9 trend and client’s unprompted acknowledgment of mood lift during walks suggest early behavioral activation response. Sleep disruption and conflict avoidance are the two primary functional impairments currently. Risk: SI denied, protective factors stable (employment, housing, therapy engagement). Risk assessed as low.
P: Reviewed behavioral activation data; introduced sleep hygiene psychoeducation (stimulus control, sleep restriction basics). HW: continue daily walks + add 10-min wind-down routine. Next session: cognitive restructuring focused on the conflict with sister. Follow-up in 7 days.
Direct comparison: SOAP vs DAP
Length and writing time
DAP is faster for most therapists. Merging subjective and objective into one Data section eliminates the mental overhead of deciding which category something belongs to. For private practice therapists writing notes immediately after sessions, this matters.
SOAP takes slightly longer but the separation forces you to distinguish what the client reported from what you observed — a distinction that has clinical value.
Clarity of clinical reasoning
Both formats require a real Assessment section with your clinical interpretation. The difference is that SOAP’s structure makes it harder to skip — you can’t bury a PHQ-9 score inside a long paragraph because it lives in its own Objective section.
DAP’s Data section can become a wall of text if you’re not disciplined. The merge only works if you still write a clear, interpretive Assessment.
Fit with different practice settings
SOAP is standard in medical settings, hospitals, and multidisciplinary teams. If you’re writing notes that psychiatrists, primary care physicians, or case managers will read, SOAP is the shared language.
DAP is the format of choice for many private practice therapists, counselors, and solo practitioners. It’s faster, it’s flexible, and it doesn’t carry the medical-record baggage of SOAP.
Defensibility
Both are equally defensible if used correctly. A well-written DAP note is as legally sound as a well-written SOAP note. The format matters less than the quality: does it document what happened, what you decided, and why?
Other formats worth knowing
BIRP (Behavior, Intervention, Response, Plan) — common in substance use treatment and case management. Emphasizes what the therapist did (interventions) and how the client responded. Useful when your documentation audience cares more about treatment activity than clinical formulation.
PIE (Problem, Intervention, Evaluation) — used in some community mental health and case management settings. Very focused on problems and functional outcomes rather than clinical depth.
Narrative notes — unstructured prose. Some experienced therapists use these effectively, but they’re harder to audit, harder to review quickly, and easier to write poorly without noticing.
For most private practice therapists, the choice comes down to SOAP or DAP — and DAP wins on speed without sacrificing clinical quality when done well.
The most common mistakes with both formats
Assessment that restates Data without adding interpretation
❌ “Client reported high anxiety this week and appeared anxious in session.”
This is Data repeated in the Assessment section. The Assessment should tell the clinical story: what does the data mean? What’s the trend? What’s the risk level and why?
✅ “Anxiety remains elevated and functionally impairing, consistent with GAD presentation. No improvement in sleep. However, client’s first use of grounding technique between sessions suggests emerging coping capacity. Risk: low.”
Plan that lists interventions without clinical justification
❌ “Used CBT. Assigned homework.”
✅ “Introduced thought record focused on catastrophizing pattern identified in Data. HW: complete one thought record for any anxiety event >6/10 this week — building toward automatic use of the technique.”
Missing risk documentation
Every session note should contain an explicit risk statement — not just when risk is elevated. “SI denied, risk assessed as low” takes 10 seconds to write and closes a significant documentation gap.
Skipping the format when sessions run long or feel messy
The sessions that feel hardest to document are usually the most important to document carefully. If a session was chaotic or emotionally intense, that’s when the structure of SOAP or DAP is most useful — it forces you to organize your clinical thinking.
How to choose: a practical decision
Choose SOAP if:
- You work in or alongside medical settings where SOAP is the shared format
- Your notes are regularly reviewed by physicians, psychiatrists, or case managers
- You find that separating subjective and objective sharpens your clinical thinking
- Your licensing board or agency mandates SOAP
Choose DAP if:
- You’re in private practice and write your own notes
- You value speed and want to finish documentation in under 10 minutes
- You don’t need to distinguish S and O for any external audience
- You already think in “what happened + what it means + what’s next”
The most important thing: pick one format and use it consistently. A therapist who writes thoughtful, consistent DAP notes will always outperform one who switches formats depending on mood, writes half in SOAP and half in narrative, and can’t find a rhythm that sticks.
What a purpose-built tool changes
Most therapists write notes in generic tools — Word, Google Docs, Notion — and spend mental energy on formatting instead of content. A purpose-built therapy notes app gives you the structure by default: you fill in the sections, not design them.
TheraMemory supports structured session notes with the fields that matter for clinical documentation — so you’re writing the Assessment, not thinking about where to put it. Client history and previous notes are one tap away before each session, which means your Data section is actually grounded in continuity, not just the current hour.
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Structured session notes, client history in order, encrypted storage — ready from day one. Spend your time on clinical thinking, not on formatting.
Documentation that works the way therapists actually think.
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