Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the evidence-based psychotherapy for OCD. The 'exposure' component involves:

• A Teaching the patient to suppress obsessional thoughts using distraction techniques
• B Relaxation training paired with imagined feared stimuli
• C Flooding with the most feared situation immediately
• D Deliberately confronting feared stimuli or situations while refraining from performing compulsions (response prevention) ✓

Explanation

ERP involves graded, deliberate confrontation with feared obsessional triggers (exposure) combined with abstaining from rituals/compulsions (response prevention). This allows habituation of anxiety and disconfirmation of feared catastrophes, breaking the obsession-compulsion cycle. Unlike systematic desensitization, relaxation is not used alongside exposure. Flooding (immediate maximum exposure) is less commonly used and more distressing than graduated ERP.

Reference: Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11th ed.

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Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.