Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD

What Is ERP?

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the most researched and effective treatment for Obsessive‑Compulsive Disorder. ERP helps you gradually face feared situations or thoughts without performing compulsions. Over time, anxiety decreases naturally, and OCD loses its grip.

How ERP Works

ERP teaches your brain that:

• Anxiety isn’t dangerous
• Thoughts are not actions
• Compulsions aren’t needed to feel safe

By practicing new responses, you retrain your brain to tolerate uncertainty and reduce obsession‑driven urges.

What ERP Sessions Look Like

Treatment may involve:

• Building a personalized hierarchy of triggers
• Learning to approach situations you have been avoiding
• Practicing response prevention skills both in session and between visits
• Building confidence and flexibility over time

ERP is collaborative and paced appropriately so that exposures feel challenging but manageable.

Who Can Benefit

ERP is effective for:

• Contamination OCD
• Checking OCD
• Relationship OCD
• Harm OCD
• Symmetry/“just right” compulsions
• Sensorimotor/“stuck focusing” concerns