Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a very common and popular form of psychotherapy. A version of CBT—exposure and response prevention (ERP)—has been found to be effective when it comes to managing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
OCD, as you probably can tell, is about obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive, anxiety-inducing thoughts usually related to a variety of irrational fears. Compulsions are what people with OCD use to calm the anxiety under the belief that these rituals can remove the source of fear. ERP is a method by which to challenge the obsession-compulsion cycle via different types of exposure. Let’s learn more.
What Is ERP for OCD?
There is currently no cure for OCD. So, CBT and ERP are meant to eliminate the potential stress that OCD cycles can cause. In the safety of a therapy room, the person with OCD is gently exposed to triggering stimuli to sever the associations between obsessions and compulsions. An ERP therapist works to help a client identify that while intrusive thoughts will arrive and cause anxiety, there is no need to immediately transition into performing compulsions.
This is accomplished through three types of exposure:
- In Vivo: Put simply, when faced with an obsession, the person can slowly increase the amount of time they wait before going for a compulsion.
- Imaginal: This involves visualizing an obsessive fear coming true without doing anything about it (as in jumping right to compulsion)
- Ritual: If the type of OCD you’re dealing with features rituals, this type of exposure helps to condition you to resist and refrain from following through with the ritual
Here’s a Potential Play-by-Play
When an intrusive thought emerges, the ERP approach would have you delay before satisfying the compulsion. Over time, you can delay longer and longer. When you eventually execute the compulsion, you will be asked to do so slowly. This drains some of its power.
If the compulsion is made up of multiple parts, ERP also encourages that some parts be removed from the equation. Eventually, only an abbreviated version of the behavior happens after a long period of delay. The next step, of course, is to work toward not doing the compulsion at all.
How Does ERP Work?
ERP allows you to experience an obsession without feeling controlled by it. Tolerance for anxiety increases, and it becomes clearer that the imagined consequences aren’t real. For someone with OCD, anxiety may feel ever-present. However, with the help of ERP therapy, you can learn how to decrease the intensity of your reaction.
Intrusive thoughts get normalized and don’t always set off alarms as they once did. This type of retraining of your brain will improve the quality of your life. In fact, as ERP treatment progresses, you can work on replacing the irrational, stress-inducing compulsion with a healthy coping mechanism.
As with everyone else, when anxiety eventually appears, you’ll have a full toolbox of skills to ease the tension. From deep breathing to movement to meditation and beyond, you are taking back more control of your daily life.
Reach Out and Learn More
ERP therapy is hard work, but worth every bit of it. Depending on where you specifically are with OCD, ERP could involve long and frequent sessions. Again, it’s a small price to pay when you consider the way OCD can impact and stymie a person’s life.
If you or someone you know is struggling to manage OCD, it’s time to learn more about a method that can provide hope and peace of mind. I invite you to reach out and set up a free and confidential consultation at your earliest convenience.
