What is the theory behind this OCD treatment worksheet?
Exposure and Response Therapy (ERP) is commonly used with clients who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). ERP helps people with OCD to face their anxiety triggers and gradually reduce the urge to perform neutralizing behaviors. The exposure exercises will systematically progress to a difficult stage based on the hierarchy of the client’s feared thoughts.
How will the worksheet help?
This worksheet will help clients keep track of the time it takes them to prevent compulsion and the resulting distress level. With repeated exposure and practice, a pattern can emerge which can convince the client that as the urge to act decreases so does their anxiety. Thus, it will be insightful for the client.
How to use the worksheet?
The worksheet is to be used as a homework assignment in between therapist guided exposure sessions. It must begin with the client’s least anxiety provoking situation, and gradually reach till the highest anxiety provoking situation.
OCD treatment worksheet
Face your anxiety trigger and resist the urge to act your compulsions. Note down the time between the exposure and the compulsions (response) Your goal is to gradually increase this time till the exposure no longer urges you to act.
Reference
National Collaborating Center for Mental Health (2005) Obsessive– Compulsive Disorder: Core Interventions in the Treatment of Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (Clinical guideline CG31). British Psychological Society & Royal College of Psychiatrists. http://www.nice.org.uk/CG031
You can download this worksheet here.