Exposure and Response Prevention is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), one of the most used and researched therapy techniques. ERP is used to treat a variety of mental health issues such as anxiety, phobias, and eating disorders. Thorough research validates ERP therapy as the gold-standard treatment, especially for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
How do I know if I should go for ERP Therapy?
If you are experiencing anxiety, and irrational fears followed by performing time-taking, and repetitive personal rituals, then ERP is probably meant for you. While ERP is used for many anxiety-provoking issues and phobias, the main focus of it has been obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a kind of anxiety disorder in which experiencing anxiety-provoking situations may first cause havoc at the mental level through repetitive thoughts (called obsessions) about the cause and effect of distress – eg. germs, followed by certain peculiar and personal illogical/excessive rituals performed to reduce the distress caused by those thoughts (called compulsions) – eg. continuously washing hands for abnormal periods of time.
How does ERP Therapy work?
Exposure-response prevention therapy uses various techniques including Systematic Desensitization which involves gradually exposing the client to anxiety-provoking situations according to their concern. While it may seem that the process of ERP may adversely affect the client, on the contrary, when conducted by a professional with experience and ERP training can significantly reduce the symptoms of OCD and related issues.
Systematic desensitization typically involves the following steps depending on the severity and type of anxiety/fear the client is going through –
- Listing the anxiety-provoking situations: clients are asked to list the situations in ascending order meaning – the lowest number to the least anxiety-provoking situation that they feel affects them the least, to the highest one. In this manner, the client and the therapist come to a common understanding of where the issues can be placed in a spectrum of posing a problem to the client.
- Starting with the least anxiety-provoking situation: the therapist slowly begins to expose the client to the least anxiety-provoking situation to understand how the client responds to the stimuli. Repeated exposure and reinforcement of the thought that ‘this act is not as bad as you think’ allows the client to slowly come to a logical reasoning while enabling healthy coping for anxiety and reduced fear.
How do I find ERP Therapy near me?
Finding a good and professional ERP therapist is essential for good prognosis and effective treatment of OCD and other related issues. While ERP by itself is highly effective, the role of the therapist has a big impact on the entire therapeutic intervention. Likewise, the active involvement of the client makes it easier to experience progress.
The following factors should be kept in mind while reaching out for Exposure Response Prevention Therapy-
- Specialized therapist – while looking for ERP Therapy “near me” it is essential to find out the qualifications and experience of the therapist. The therapist must hold a license for practice while having specialized training in ERP before taking clients for treatment.
- Fee structure – searching ‘ERP Therapy near me’ would give you options available to you – both in the offline and online mode – for consultation and referral. However, you should also go through the fee structure of the therapy to gauge if the treatment is in line with the experience of the therapist or not. It is better to go for established centers and hospitals to get assurance regarding the quality and a standard fee structure.
- Location and Accessibility – it is essential to look for centers/hospitals with ERP therapists nearby to not face any difficulty in traveling and regularly attending therapy sessions. Skipping sessions makes it difficult to see improvement as the consistency would break. Try searching “ERP Therapist Near Me” to find out the closest professional therapists near your area and follow through with them for more details.
What are the Outcomes of opting for ERP Therapy near me?
ERP Therapy is one the most effective ways to treat obsessive and compulsive behaviours as well as anxiety, fears, and phobia.
Common fears when left untreated can become a hazard for the overall functioning of the person as they would always be disturbed mentally.
People with phobias, fears, or symptoms of OCD usually go through various issues that include –
- Preoccupation with distressing thoughts
- Mental distress
- Irrational fears
- Indulgence in compulsive behaviours to overcome uncontrollable obsessive thoughts
- Spending most of the time trying to get rid of those negative emotions and distressing thoughts/anxiety, and so on.
People suffering from the above are often disturbed and irritated due to the lack of time management, emotional involvement, and mental exhaustion after continuously stressing over what bothers them.
ERP has been declared the primary line of care for patients of OCD due to its highly effective treatment procedure and results that have been observed and obtained through scientific techniques.
Why CoachForMind?
- Experienced Psychologists: We are a team of licensed RCI-registered clinical psychologists. Our team is well-experienced in various forms of therapy such as CBT, ERP, DBT, and Narrative Therapy, both – offline and online.
- Personalized Approach: We are dedicated to treating our clients in the best-suited way, carefully curated as per the client’s needs, and adhering to one-on-one, client-centered therapy.
- Scientific Techniques: Our treatment plans and therapeutic methods are based on highly researched scientific findings such as CBT, ERP, DBT, and Narrative Therapy among many other therapeutic techniques.
- Quality service: We at CoachForMind ensure quality services in our treatment regime and therapeutic approaches. Our clients hold most value to us, so we ground our techniques in empathy while maintaining professionalism.
For more information, please visit our website or contact us directly at coachformind@gmail.com
