Exposure and Response Prevention therapy is a sub category of Cognitive Behavoural Therapy (CBT). It is a very specific therapy in which I guide my clients through different exposures regarding their anxieties or fears. This is not a therapy where we just jump into our worst fears, rather, I collaborate with my clients to create a exposure hierarchy and we begin to gradually allow clients to habituate to new situations in their lives. This allows clients to learn new ways of living as well as learning to cope with feelings such as anxiety.

The response prevention piece of this therapy involves identifying safety behaviours or compulsions that we have created in order to keep us safe. In reality these behaviours and compulsions only serve to increase our anxiety in the future. Response prevention allows us to stop these behaviours and be fully engaged in life.

Exposure and Response Prevention therapy is one of the main treatments for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and is also useful with social anxiety and other anxieties as well.

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