Exposure Therapy

You may try to cope with your anxiety disorder by avoiding things that make you anxious. But this helps to keep the fear alive. Exposure therapy helps many people break the cycle.

This type of therapy involves spending time around the thing you fear. Sometimes you use a “virtual-reality” computer game to do this. During these sessions, a counselor helps you talk about your feelings and deal with any physical symptoms.

Over time, you should be able to handle longer, more intense exposure. Your counselor won’t ask you to take the next step until you’re ready.

Exposure therapy can work for many anxiety disorders, including:

• Panic disorder


• Obsessive compulsive disorder


• Posttraumatic stress disorder


• Social anxiety disorder


• Phobias

If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder, exposure therapy will focus on your thoughts rather than on things and situations. A related form of therapy deals with obsessive compulsive disorder. In this treatment, you are asked to think about an obsessive thought without doing a compulsive action afterward. For example, if you have an obsessive fear of dirt and germs, you may be told to touch something you think is dirty and then resist the urge to wash for as long as you can.

Also of Interest

Hear how Alex learned to focus on his school work after his diagnosis.

Anxiety made it difficult for Debra to do her job. Listen to her describe her experiences.