Exposure and Responsive Prevention Therapy and its Effectiveness in Anxiety Treatment
WRITTEN BY: BRI VARGAS
What is Exposure and Responsive Prevention (ERP)?
Exposure and Responsive Prevention (ERP) has become a well established treatment solution in children, adolescents, and adults who specifically struggle with anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) (Yan et al., 2022). ERP is a form of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and involves teaching individuals to confront and tolerate conditions that provoke their OCD. This prevention tool empowers individuals to reduce avoidance, master fears, and build healthy coping mechanisms. Research has found that 60%-85% of individuals who complete ERP treatment successfully alleviate OCD symptoms (Yan et al., 2022).
The process of ERP assessment starts by creating a hierarchy of anxiety that includes situations that evoke obsessive thoughts, compulsions, avoidance behavior. This is to give the individual structure, a road map, and provide organization of their fears from least to most distressing (McKay et al., 2015). The exposure component in ERP involves gradually giving the individual an anxiety provoking task to perform that will trigger their fear. The response prevention then allows them to practice tolerating the distress without resorting to compulsions or avoidance (Law & Boisseau, 2019). Over time, practice with ERP can allow anxiety to diminish and help individuals realize that their feared outcomes are unlikely to occur (Abramowitz, 2006).
Why is ERP Effective? ERP aids in breaking the anxiety and avoidance that is common in OCD. Through gradual exposure, individuals learn that distress can rise and fall without leading to harmful to consequences (Law & Boisseau, 2019). With repeated practice, individuals learn habitation, which builds resilience and greater control over their fears without relying on compulsions.
Additionally, exposure and responsive prevention has decades of research to support its reliability as a valid treatment for OCD and anxiety (Abramowitz, 2006). Ultimately, exposure and responsive prevention provides individuals a chance to reclaim their lives and gives the tools to provide long lasting relief.
References
Abramowitz, J. S. (2006). The psychological treatment of obsessive—compulsive disorder. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(7), 407-416.
Law, C., & Boisseau, C. L. (2019). Exposure and Response Prevention in the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Current Perspectives. Psychology research and behavior management, 12, 1167–1174. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S211117
McKay, D., Sookman, D., Neziroglu, F., Wilhelm, S., Stein, D. J., Kyrios, M., ... & Veale, D.(2015). Efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive–compulsive disorder Psychiatry research, 225(3), 236-246.
Yan, J., Cui, L., Wang, M., Cui, Y., & Li, Y. (2022). The efficacy and neural correlates of ERP-based therapy for OCD & TS: a systematic review and Meta-analysis. Journal of Integrative Neuroscience, 21(3), 97.