How to Treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder With ERP Treatments
Exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) is widely used to treat many anxiety-based neurotic conditions. It has proven to be especially effective at treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. In ERP, the patient is repeatedly exposed to his fears, while being denied the opportunity to engage in any safety behaviors (compulsions) that normally would alleviate the patient's anxiety regarding exposure to those fears. This is a safe therapy that can normally be done through phone contact with a therapist (the nature of the treatment makes face-to-face contact unnecessary). If you would like to treat obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) with ERP, there are a few simple steps you should learn.
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Instructions
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Treat your obsessions and compulsions one at a time. Trying to overcome more than one obsession/compulsion combination at a time is difficult and often counterproductive.
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Expose yourself to your fear. If this is leaving a light on when you leave the house, then do that. If your fear is of stepping on a sidewalk crack, then step on it. Do whatever it is that you are afraid of doing.
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Stop yourself from performing the compulsive activity that normally helps you deal with the anxiety you experience from being exposed to your fears. This will be hard to do, as your whole psyche will be telling you to engage in your safety behavior. If you need your therapist to talk you through it, be sure she is on the phone the first few times you do this. You may also need to have a friend on hand to keep you from performing your compulsion.
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Practice this compulsion avoidance on a consistent basis. Once you have avoided a compulsion once, do not engage in it again, even if your therapist is not on the phone. Engaging in it again will only prolong your treatment. Eventually, your feelings of anxiety from not performing the compulsion will disappear, though this may take weeks or months to happen.
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Check in with your therapist either in person or by telephone each time you eliminate a compulsion. Go over where you are in your progress, what compulsion you would like to work on next and how you feel about your progress.
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Tips & Warnings
You may need to take a short-term tranquilizer while practicing ERP treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder. For some people, the exposure to their obsessive fears without the benefit of engaging in their compulsions is too much for them to handle and they need assistance when first starting the ERP treatments. Taking a low-dose tranquilizer the first few weeks of treatments can be of enormous benefit in getting through the rough patches at the beginning.
