Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is a technique within behavior therapy that treats anxiety disorders by deliberately exposing a patient to the source of their anxiety, or to the context associated with it, without any intent to cause real danger, on the premise that repeated, controlled exposure helps the patient overcome the anxiety or distress the source provokes. Numerous studies have found it effective for generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and specific phobias. A widely used current form is exposure and response prevention, in which exposure continues while the patient maintains a resolution not to perform the escape or avoidance response at any time, not only during scheduled therapy sessions.