Exposure therapy (sometimes also referred to as exposure and response prevention, or ERP) is arguably the most effective treatment for anxiety disorders. In short, exposure involves teaching people how to face their fears and decrease patterns of avoidance and safety behaviors/rituals that maintain anxiety problems over time. In the process, clients are able to reclaim aspects of their lives that are important to them and have often been limited due to anxiety symptoms. CBT and behavioral treatments for anxiety emphasize the role that avoidance of triggers/situations that cause anxiety plays in keeping anxiety symptoms going. By facing feared situations and triggers, individuals are able to experience new learning that leads to new and more adaptive ways of responding to these situations. Exposure therapy and ERP are considered gold-standard treatments for all anxiety disorders (i.e., phobias, social anxiety, PTSD, GAD, OCD, panic, agoraphobia, health anxiety).
