Show Notes
Convinced you'll be the one person who does Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) wrong? This one's for you. Jess Hayes and Laura Mole walk through how ERP actually works — who picks the exposures, how scary they need to be, and why you genuinely cannot fail — plus what happens when therapy ends.
Exposure and Response Prevention is all about exposing yourself to your OCD fears (exposure) and then making active choices in not engaging in compulsions and avoidance (response prevention) to challenge the OCD, and it is often referred to as the 'gold standard' of OCD treatment. This episode explores why it can be a helpful approach, and future episodes will discuss some alternatives.
Podcast by Laura Mole, Adv. Dip, MBACP OCD specialist therapist and Jessica Hayes, Msc PGDip, BABCP Accred OCD and perinatal specialist therapist and Christian Nickson, editor
Time stamps: 02:00 Brain spam 05:20 OCD brains need to obsess 07:20 Compassionate other voices 09:20 ERP as the gold standard, what is it? 10:45 Amygdala, the brain, and the threat response 15:44 How ERP fits into cognitive behavioural therapy 18:40 Which CBT treatments are unhelpful for OCD 21:45 Brody and their contamination OCD 24:20 How might ERP look like for Brody? 26:30 What we don't do with ERP 27:10 Do you have to immediately do exposures? 27:30 Who picks the exposures? 28:30 You are in control and what to do if you aren't ready? 29:28 You can't fail your ERP 31:15 How scary should exposures be? How Brody tackles ERP 34:29 What to do to make ERP work? 36:00 How family and other support can help 41:10 What comes after therapy? 43:00 When does ERP not work? 46:34 ERP is imperfect 49:05 Questions from the listeners: ERP and medication 51:20 Key takeaways for ERP for OCD 51:55 OCD Weekly Wins 52:56 Exposure Lab feedback 55:20 Exposure Lab for contamination OCD 56:20 Thank you and goodbyes
Get in Touch: Got intrusive thoughts to share or questions for us: Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram and Tiktok: @justcheckingpod For our individual OCD pages, you can find Laura on Tiktok and Instagram as @ocdtherapylaura and Jess as @jess_helps_your_ocd Please check out our privacy policy https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YJZ4Sdh4OpxjRR9twGY6dOMH9n55Mq6qTqLBxOtN3Fw/edit?usp=sharing
Content Warnings: We do reference some thoughts that people may find distressing so please listen with caution if this is you, and take a break if you need to.
Disclaimer This podcast provides educational content only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, please contact a mental health professional for advice and support.
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