<p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>Am I doing ERP correctly? This is a common roadblock I see every week in my private practice. I think it is a common struggle for people with anxiety and OCD. Today, we will talk about the three common <a href="https://kimberleyquinlan-lmft.com/what-is-ocd/">OCD</a> traps people fall into and how you can actually outsmart your OCD and overcome it.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p> <p><!-- wp:more --><br> <!--more--><br> <!-- /wp:more --></p> <p> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/Ngb_lQK5Fnk?si=9FU42GZZZDJ58f-W","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --></p> <figure> <div> https://youtu.be/Ngb_lQK5Fnk?si=9FU42GZZZDJ58f-W</div> </figure> <p><!-- /wp:embed --></p> <p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>Now, when we're talking about Expsoure & response prevention <a href="https://kimberleyquinlan-lmft.com/erp-therapy-for-intrusive-thoughts/"> ERP</a>, we must go over the basics of ERP therapy, so let's talk about what that means before we talk about the specific traps that we can fall into. </p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p> <p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>ERP is exposure and response prevention. It's a specific type of <a href="https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/erp#:~:text=Exposure and response prevention (ERP,the problematic cycle of OCD." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cognitive behavioral therapy</a> and is the gold standard treatment for OCD to date. </p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p> <p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>And it's a detailed process, right? It's something that we [00:01:00] have to go through slowly. It's a detailed process where we first identify OCD obsessions and OCD intrusive thoughts. So, you'll identify precisely the repetitive, intrusive, and distressing things for you. Once we have a good inventory of your OCD obsessions, we then identify what specific OCD compulsions you are doing now. A compulsion is a behavior that you do to reduce or remove your anxiety, uncertainty, or doubt, or any kind of discomfort that you may be experiencing.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p> <p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>And once we do that, then we can move towards exposing you to your fears. <a href="https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/erp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Exposure therapy for OCD</a> involves exposing yourself to those specific obsessions. And then engaging in [00:02:00] response prevention, which is the reduction of using those compulsive safety behaviors. Now, common OCD response prevention will involve reducing physical behaviors, reducing avoidant behaviors, or reducing thought suppression. It's reducing reassurance, seeking, reducing mental compulsions, and in reducing any kind of self-punishment that you're engaging in to beat yourself up for the obsessions that you're having. Then we get you engaged back into doing the things you love to do; getting you back to engaging in your daily life, your daily functioning, the things that you find pleasurable, and your hobbies as soon as possible. </p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p> <p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>That's the whole goal of ERP. Right? </p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p> <p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>The important thing to remember here is that <a href="https://kimberleyquinlan-lmft.com/">ERP therapy for OCD</a> is greatly improved by adding in [00:03:00] other treatment modalities, such as <a href="https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/expert-opinion-what-is-act/#:~:text=ACT focuses on finding a,frequency of obsessions or anxiety." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">acceptance and commitment therapy</a> or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0887618515000614#:~:text=With regard to OCD symptoms,experimental task designed to elicit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DBT</a>, and medication. </p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p> <p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>I should have mentioned medication first because most of the science shows that that's one of the most helpful to really augment ERP therapy for OCD. If you want to go deeper into that, I strongly encourage you to check out <a href="https://www.cbtschool.com/erp-school-lp">Exposure and Response Prevention School</a>. I'll show you how to do all of those steps in ERP school, our online course for OCD.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --></p> <p><!-- wp:image --></p> <figure><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/fiaOmuI5AT_tdyUfo_Nc2boA9QhG0db05_8ak2pCs7ofOBCvCfiWDsQ5NHDTxidqc-k2PvKgnovSgxSCQbrQvwLz6HyR_p9j-96PTmQOrRTg9n5_ApFInphLy33K4dvXehrlB9vpkVnqw6F3hP0xT-I" alt="ERP School Online Course for OCD"></figure> <p><!-- /wp:image --></p> <p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>You must know how to do those steps and that you're doing them in a way that's careful and planned so that we're not overwhelming you and throwing you