Exposure and response prevention

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a cognitive behavioral therapy that gradually confronts feared thoughts, objects, or situations while preventing compulsive or avoidant responses.

Exposure therapy: A psychological treatment that reduces fear by gradually confronting feared cues or situations. ERP uses exposure as one half of its treatment method.
Contamination OCD: An obsessive-compulsive disorder presentation involving contamination fears and cleaning or avoidance rituals. ERP often practices contact with feared contaminants while delaying washing.
Obsession: A recurrent, intrusive thought, image, or urge that causes distress and is difficult to dismiss. Obsessions often supply the feared predictions addressed during ERP.
Cognitive restructuring: A therapy technique that examines and revises inaccurate or unhelpful interpretations and beliefs. ERP primarily tests feared predictions through experience rather than disputing them verbally.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: A structured psychotherapy that links patterns of thinking and behavior to emotional difficulties. ERP is a specialized behavioral treatment within this broader therapeutic family.
Response prevention: The deliberate refraining from a ritual, compulsion, or other response that usually follows distress. It interrupts the compulsive response ERP pairs with exposure.
Scrupulosity: Obsessions about sin, morality, or religious duties accompanied by compulsive acts or reassurance seeking. ERP can address rituals without requiring certainty about moral or spiritual fears.
Compulsion: A repetitive behavior or mental act performed in response to an obsession or rigid rule. ERP specifically asks clients to refrain from these distress-reducing rituals.
Systematic desensitization: A behavioral treatment combining gradual exposure with relaxation training to reduce conditioned fear. Unlike this method, ERP does not depend on relaxation as the exposure response.
OCD Action Plan: A structured treatment-planning resource for organizing cognitive behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Treatment planning helps translate ERP principles into repeatable clinical practice.

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