Exposure Therapy

I am a behaviorist at heart so I use Prolonged Exposure Therapy and can pull from Exposure & Response Prevention.

Most of us have goals or values that take work. Sometimes the work feels frightening or painful, leading to avoidance. It's natural to wish to avoid pain, but that can create more problems for us long-term. In order to have a life worth living, we must confront our fears. In a safe environment and with incremental steps, exposure to our fears can reduce discomfort and avoidance over time.

Exposure therapy is considered the most evidence based treatment for anxiety and OCD. I utilize this approach with those experiencing a phobia, generalized anxiety, PTSD, or obsessive thought patterns.

I use Exposure Therapy often in my work with clients that are anxious and have specific fears and phobias.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a specialized form of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) primarily used to treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The main goal of ERP is to help individuals with OCD gradually confront feared situations and resist compulsions through a tailored treatment plan. Over time, repeated exposure to the feared situations or thoughts without engaging in the usual compulsions can lead to decreased anxiety and confidence in breaking the OCD cycle.

I was lucky enough to be trained in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) in my first year of practice. Whether you are experiencing a new anxiety or an old phobia, we will work together to slowly learn how you can experience freedom from the overwhelming fears that keep you from living the life you want to live.

ERP is a therapy technique that helps you confront your obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors in a safe and controlled way. During ERP, we'll work together to gradually expose you to situations or stimuli that trigger your OCD, anxiety, and phobias. We'll do this in a step-by-step way that helps you feel more in control and less anxious. Through our work together, you'll learn to break free from the cycle of fear and anxiety, and regain your sense of control and well-being.

Fear is a powerful emotion. Since 2019, a specialty of mine has been using Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to help teens and adults who struggle with anxiety, panic disorder, social phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). When you are able to use exposure in a therapeutic way, it becomes a powerful tool to help you break free of fear, and live the life you desire.

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that is often used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). ERP involves gradually exposing patients to situations or stimuli that trigger their obsessions, while helping them resist the urge to engage in compulsive behaviors. Over time, this process can help individuals develop greater control over their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

I have attended multiple training courses on this topic and have provided training and supervision in this area.

Avoidance is the enemy for anxiety! I provide ERP or exposure response prevention to gradually help clients face their fears. This is done in a slow and systematic way knowing that avoiding what makes us anxious only works in the short term. ERP is good for clients with: Social Anxiety Disorder, Phobias (really of any kind), OCD, and even for people with perfectionistic tendencies/ personalities. It is some of my favorite work to do and I have seen amazing results!

In facing our fears, we can learn to actually tolerate once frightening things that governed our lives. Exposure therapy can help you to systematically and hierarchically face what causes you worry, seeing through the process your distress will not only decrease in time without needing to escape or avoid the situation, yet the more you do it the less frightening your fears prove to be.

Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP) ERP is the primary treatment technique used and is the gold standard for OCD treatment. In ERP, we will guide you in a step-by-step process of exposing yourself to the thoughts and situations that are triggering your distress- without allowing a compulsion to stop the distress. Without the compulsive behaviors you will habituate to the distress and/or train the brain that the distress can be tolerated.

I have several years of experience and training in exposure therapy. I have successfully utilize this approach to support my clientele struggling with fears of vomit, snakes/spiders, socializing with peers, natural distasters, etc. While utilizing this approach, I have found that my clientele finish therapy feeling more confident, capable, and no longer in distress with the once feared stimuli.

I have over 20 years' experience successfully working with clients using exposure. I have used this approach in treating a wide range of anxiety concerns (e.g., social phobia, panic, health anxiety, claustrophobia) as well as post-traumatic stress. I keep current on developments in exposure therapy through reading, professional conference attendance, and participation in continuing education seminars. I have also published research examining use of exposure in treating post-traumatic stress.

I have been trained in Exposure Response and Prevention for OCD through the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Particularly for OCD, Exposure and Response Prevention is the gold standard of care. ERP involves identification and rating fears associated with repetitive thoughts and obsessive behaviors or thoughts to neutralize the fears. Then, systemically and with great care and support, exposure treatment involves graded work on neutralizing the anxiety that arises when approaching rather than avoiding the feared stimulus.

Rumination-focused Exposure and Response Prevention is a modification of traditional ERP developed by a psychologist who experiences OCD himself. I find it to be both more approachable and more nuanced, and is a great option for both newcomers and ERP veterans.