Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold-standard behavioral treatment for OCD and anxiety, involving gradual exposure to feared triggers while choosing not to perform compulsions or safety behaviors.
Compulsions provide short-term relief but reinforce the brain's false alarm system. Refraining from compulsions allows natural habituation to occur, proving that anxiety eventually subsides on its own:
“If I don't check this right now, something terrible will happen.”
Camic helps you design an exposure step, track distress levels (SUDS), and refrain from safety behaviors during practice sessions.
Foa, E.B., & Kozak, M.J. (1986). Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin, 99(1), 20–35. Abramowitz, J.S. (2006). The psychological treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(7), 407–416. IOCDF Clinical Practice Guidelines for OCD treatment cite ERP as first-line, with average symptom reductions of roughly 60%.
