What successful Exposure Therapy Looks Like

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A common misconception about OCD treatment is that successful treatment will remove anxiety. But the truth is that it's impossible to remove all anxiety. Anxiety is just a natural part of life! If your client has the expectation that therapy will help them avoid anxiety, then both you and your client will encounter serious disappointment and frustration.

Rather, successful Exposure and Response Prevention (ExRP) therapy is the process of giving our clients the skills they need to COPE with anxiety, rather than avoid it.

However, this doesn't mean ExRP won't help reduce the intensity of the anxiety and discomfort. In fact, part of the mechanism of ExRP is that the consistent exposure practice functions to recondition our clients' brain to be able to tolerate the discomfort more readily. This means that with time, the level and frequency of the anxiety experienced by our clients will decrease and become more manageable.

It really is akin to physical training. If you are training for a marathon, the goal is not to avoid your breathing and heart rate from increasing. Instead, the goal is to increase your stamina and endurance. Your heart rate and breathing are always going to increase when you engage in vigorous physical activity. But with training, your body increases its capacity to cope with the increased physical activity.

Similarly, the measure of success in ExRP is not the absence of discomfort, but the ability to endure the discomfort of the exposure activity, while remaining present in the moment!

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