Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy is for people diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. OCD is when a person uses compulsive behaviors to try and control repetitive, distressing, and intrusive thoughts. For example, a person may wash their hands excessively because they have extreme fear and anxiety of germs.
ERP’s goal is to promote distress tolerance skills that replace rituals or compulsions.
Your therapist will introduce the concept of “habituation,” which involves slowly exposing you to the feared experience. Through distress tolerance techniques such as mindfulness and breathing exercises, your nervous system learns to calm down when exposed to the stimuli. Eventually, after repeated exposure, your body learns to respond differently.
Another idea behind Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy is that you learn that your previous associations are likely wrong by being exposed to the feared stimuli multiple times. For example, someone who fears germs learns, through repeated exposure, that they will not become deathly ill after exposing themself to germs.
ERP also can help you manage distressing emotions surrounding the fear itself. You can ease some of these obsessions and compulsions by learning to tolerate uncertainty.
Your ERP therapist will work with you to develop skills of distress tolerance, mindfulness, and staying present in the moment, which can help you manage your symptoms.
Therapists Who Specialize in Using Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy
"As a Marriage and Family therapist, I offer a safe environment to address life concerns or build on your strengths. With compassion and understanding, I will work with you to help you begin the healing process. Through therapy, I strive to help you gain insight to your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that influence your relationship with self and others."
I enjoy working with adults struggling with anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and bereavement. I feel fortunate to be able to provide bilingual Spanish services and to bring my awareness of multicultural issues and their impact in mental health functioning.
I provide therapy to adolescents, families and adults in Washington state. My passion is to provide evidence-based treatments, which are treatments that have researched and shown to provide positive outcomes in treating the problem you’re experiencing. Together, we’ll work as a team to decide what treatment is right for you. I’ll tailor my approach to your specific situation and need so that yo...
Are you tired of struggling with constant thoughts about food and your body? I’m passionate about helping you achieve a healthy relationship with food, find peace and acceptance in your body, and take steps towards a more fulfilling life. I strive to provide support, guidance, and empathy, as we navigate the growth and changes that come with eating disorder recovery.
I am a Licensed Professional Counseling who has experience working individually with adults, teenagers, and children. I am educated in several treatment modalities and I tend to utilize an eclectic approach depending on the client's needs. My specialties include anxiety, depression, ADHD, opposition defiant disorder, anger management, eating disorders, grief, and trauma. I am experienced wit...
Please go to therapymplsmn.com for more information. Evening and weekend appts; free consultations. Having faced pain and challenges in my own life, I am deeply invested in what’s possible in therapy. I understand how intimidating and stressful it can be to find a therapist and begin. For now, I want you to know I am warm, calm, compassionate, non-judgmental, and direct, and take a collaborativ...
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My work is client-centered and designed to meet each person where they are, with compassion and openness. We can work together to meet your individual goals.
My goal is to empower you to identify and overcome personal obstacles that are preventing you from getting the most out of life. I strive to create a warm, supportive, empathetic, understanding and, most importantly, collaborative environment from the comfort of your own home.Throughout our sessions, we will tackle life’s challenges—whether they may be problems of anxiety, self-esteem, or unhea...
Sol Therapy is a 100% teletherapy practice offering video and phone sessions. I believe therapy should be accessible to EVERYONE. Therefore, I offer a “Pay What You Can” Scale. After the initial consultation call, if it’s deemed that we are a good fit and you are committed to coming to therapy and working on your goals, then we will work together to find an option that works for you!