ERP Therapy, Where Are You?

I recently received an email from a woman in her thirties who has had obsessive-compulsive disorder since she was a child. She came across one of my articles and was interested in learning more about exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, as she had never heard of it. She had been to all kinds of health care providers over the years, yet she had never heard of ERP. Unfortunately, emails such as hers are not uncommon, but they sure are frustrating. She’s had OCD for twenty plus years and never heard of ERP? This realization jolts me out of my little corner of the world (or blogosphere) where everyone knows about ERP therapy because we talk about it over and over again. Is progress actually being made? Are we really getting the word out? Sometimes I just don’t think so. It’s bad enough that so many people with OCD are not familiar with the proper treatment, but what is even more upsetting to me is when I see articles on OCD, or information on the Internet, and there is no mention whatsoever of ERP. I recently read an article discussing the use of high-intensity focused ultrasound for patients with OCD who do not respond to medication. The study mentioned in the article was conducted by Jin Woo Chang, M.D., Ph.D., with results published in the Journal of Molecular Psychiatry. Dr. Chang says: “There is a need for non-invasive treatment options for patients with OCD that cannot be managed through medication.” Hmm. He is talking about non-invasive treatment opti...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Cognitive-Behavioral Disorders General Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Personal Stories Psychiatry Psychology Psychotherapy Treatment Avoidance Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Compulsions Erp exposure and response prevention Exposur Source Type: news