Video Transcript
Being exposed repeatedly to the thing you fear most. Let’s talk about exposure and response prevention therapy, or ERP. This is a gold standard treatment for people who have OCD and other conditions where they fear a certain thing that actually isn’t going to harm them.
Through therapy, you are repeatedly exposed to that thing and you work to not have the compulsive behavior you would typically do. For example, I have a fear of a certain skin condition that I’m not going to name because I don’t want to stigmatize it because it’s really just my weird OCD thing. Someone who had the condition was wearing a cute little old Navy fur jacket I had, and I was terrified to put it back on.
Through ERP, I had to take steps to be near the coat and be more and more uncomfortable with it. First I was sitting next to the coat, then I had the coat on my lap, and then I put the coat on my body. It was weird, bizarre, uncomfortable, everything. But if you think this could help you, talk to your therapist about ERP.
