Exposure And Response Prevention Therapy For Ocd

By Author: Dr jith tho
Total Articles: 1
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A 2015 report published in Psychiatry Research on the efficacy of CBT for treating OCD stated that “in light of the abundance of evidence supporting the application of ERP, this treatment should be predominant in first-line evidence-based psychological interventions for OCD.” If you have a phobia of elevators, the best treatment is to get in an elevator.

The same thinking applies to treating OCD. If you’re fearful of germs and engage in all sorts of compulsive acts to avoid contact with them, your therapy plan is going to include exposure to situations that frighten you. This could mean touching doorknobs with bare hands, or perhaps shaking hands with someone with whom you might ordinarily avoid contact. There are many examples of this when it comes to OCD therapy.

As I mentioned in chapter 1, ERP is conducted in a step-by-step manner to increase your chances of success and to build your confidence. If you have a phobia of elevators, the first exposure wouldn’t be to get in an elevator and go up 20 floors. Instead you might be assigned first to get in the elevator and walk out before the door even closes. ...
... Once your anxiety associated with that sufficiently subsides, you would then move on to subsequent items on your hierarchy and continue doing that until you eventually get to the point of being able to go up to the twentieth floor.

The same incremental approach is used for OCD. But with ERP, it’s not enough to be exposed to your fears. The therapy also calls for a response prevention plan after the exposure. This means not performing the related compulsive behavior associated with the obsession. Maybe you’ve taken that first step and touched something you believe to be contaminated; now you need to stop the compulsion that drives you to clean your hands afterward.

If you’re working on checking behaviours associated with the stove top, you must start to resist the compulsion to check the burners. If you’re doing exposure work but not also doing the response prevention, then you’re not really engaging in ERP.

About author
I am certified in addiction counseling, public health, health education, mental health and I am also an AIDS-certified registered nurse with more than 30 years of experience and founder of Hindi health point
https://www.hindihealthpoint.com