Exposure & Response Prevention Therapy

Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP) is a type of psychotherapy designed to help those who struggle with obsessive or scary thoughts refrain from engaging in compulsions and/or rituals in response to these thoughts. ERP is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy that gradually exposes someone to stimuli to induce their maladaptive responses. Furthermore, one learns over time that the stimuli, thoughts, and feelings that prompt compulsions are more bearable than they anticipated and do not actually lead to the feared outcomes, as originally believed. In this way the connection between scary obsessive thoughts and compulsive rituals can be broken.