People with OCD dwell on certain thoughts (obsessions) and engage in rituals (compulsions) to alleviate the anxiety the obsessions provoke. At its worst, OCD can compel people to spend hours each day rehearsing an intricate mental dance they feel powerless to end.
.. exposure and response prevention, or ERP, therapy is the gold-standard treatment for people with OCD. It is radically different from more traditional talk therapy, which excavates patients’ childhoods or past relationships for clues to their present-day problems. In ERP, none of that matters. Instead, a person is forced to confront their obsessive thoughts relentlessly. The goal is to make the sufferer so accustomed to their obsessions that they no longer feel tempted to engage in soothing compulsions.
.. ERP teaches people, “these thoughts are meaningless, you need to learn to ignore them.”
.. When families finally do obtain it, ERP can be life-changing. Janet Singer’s 17-year-old son realized he had OCD when he found himself trapped in strange mental grooves, like envisioning harm coming to his friends or feeling unable to stop counting to 1,000