ERP

Ep. 86: The Science of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

1 February 2019

The Science of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

Welcome back to another episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast.  

Today we are talking about the science behind Exposure and Response Prevention.  I know a lot of you have a lot of questions about why we would ever put ourselves in a position to be MORE anxious and MOST uncertain.   But, there are many reasons why and today we are going to dive into The Science of Exposure and Response Prevention .

To put it simply, we instinctually we run from fear.  We go into fight, flight and freeze when we are faced with serious, dangerous events. In emergency situations, this is the most sophisticated human response.  We are so lucky we have this response, as it keeps up alive and well.  

However, in our era, we are often bombarded by THOUGHTS of serious, dangerous events and this causes our brain to make mistakes about the imminence of danger.  We experience the thought as if it were an imminent threat – right here, danger in close quarters, etc. 

The problem is that we react to this thought or sensation or urge as if it IS an imminent threat.  We run away, we fight it or we freeze.  

What happens when we do this is that we reinforce that the thought IS dangerous and, because we responded in this way, a cycle that is created.  Fear –> avoidance response –> fear….and the cycle continues. 

So, what can we do instead of fight, flight or freeze? We can stare our fear right in the face.  We do this by performing Exposure and Response Prevention.  Exposure and Response Prevention includes changing our behavior, or response, to the original thought or obsession and exposing ourselves to our feared consequence.  Now, if you hate the idea of this, you are not alone.  

 In this week’s podcast, we address the science behind Exposure & Response Prevention to help motivate and inform you of WHY ERP is so important and HOW it changes our brains.  If you need help with this, now is the time to act.  

ERP School, our online course that teaches you all the most important components of ERP for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is BACK, but act fast because it is only available until February 14^th, 2019!   

Exposure and Response Prevention School (ERP School)  is an online course that teaches you the tools and skills I teach my clients in my office.  Let me tell you a little bit about it.   

The course is a video-based course that includes modules on 

1. The science behind ERP 
2. Identifying YOUR obsessions and your compulsions 
3. The different approaches and types of ERP, including gradual exposure, writing scripts, interoceptive exposures and how to get creative with ERP 
4. Mindfulness tools to help you manage anxiety, panic, and uncertainty 
5. Troubleshoot common questions and concerns 
6. BONUS 6 videos of the most common subtypes of OCD

The course also includes many downloadable PDF’s and activities to help you navigate how to best apply ERP to your specific obsessions and compulsions.  

We are so excited to finally share ERP with you and would love to have you join us and the CBT School Community.  It’s a beautiful day to do hard things! 

If you are worried about doing it alone, please don’t fear.  We meet bi-monthly on the FB group and on IG to talk about questions you may have. 

Click HERE to sign up.   

Ep. 65: ERP Is the Coolest Thing!

7 September 2018

ERP Is the Coolest Thing!

If you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or any other mental health struggle, you are going to LOVE this episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit.   This week we have Nathalie Maragoni, an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist who not only treats Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders, but also knows exactly what it is like the experience the terror of intrusive thoughts, panic attacks and brutal compulsions.   She said it best herself: “ERP is the coolest thing!”

In this episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit, Nathalie talks with us about how she struggles finding the correct therapy for her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and how she drove for over 1.5 hours to get a treatment specialist who used Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP).  Nathalie also talks about her struggle with different types of obsessions and compulsions.   She says, “Willingness is the key to managing OCD” and she could not be more correct about this.  We just loved how she shared her love for Exposure & Response Prevention and how “ERP is the coolest thing!”

Nathalie shares the importance of continuing ERP after treatment. She found that getting the proper treatment alone (ERP) was not enough to help her live a full and thriving life with OCD.  She discusses the importance of applying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and how this helps her live a value-based life where she can just allow thoughts to be there, instead of fusing with them.  For more information about Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, click HERE.   Nathalie talks about how she is using the book The Happiness Trap to help her understand that “Every experience comes with a good feeling and a bad feeling.”

In other news, Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) school is HERE.  Exposure and Response Prevention School is an online course that teaches you the tools and skills I teach my clients in my office.  Just like Nathalie says, ERP is the coolest thing!

Let me tell you a little bit about it.   The course is a video-based course that includes modules on:

1. The science behind ERP
2. Identifying YOUR obsessions and your compulsions
3. The different approaches and types of ERP, including gradual exposure, writing scripts, interoceptive exposures and how to get creative with ERP
4. Mindfulness tools to help you manage anxiety, panic and uncertainty
5. Troubleshooting common questions and concerns
6. BONUS videos explaining the most common subtypes of OCD and how to apply ERP to these obsessions and compulsions.

The course also includes many downloadable PDF’s and activities to help you navigate how to best apply ERP to your specific obsessions and compulsions.

We are so excited to finally share ERP with you and would love to have you join us and the CBT School community.  Its a beautiful day to do hard things!

If you are worried about doing it alone, please don’t fear.  We meet bi-monthly on the FB group and on IG to talk about questions you may have.

 

Nathalie Maragoni is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist at OCDSpecialists.com.  They now have offices in Bakersfeild and Los Angeles under Supervisor, Stacey Kuhl Wochner.  Nathalie can be found on Instagram at @mindonfire_ocd.