Exposure therapy for
OCD
Exposure and response prevention is the front-line psychological treatment for OCD. These clinicians can help you on your recovery journey.
Therapists who can work with you
Reading the live directory…Signs this is the problem
- Intrusive thoughts you try to neutralise, check, or confess away
- Washing, cleaning, or avoiding whole categories of objects and places
- Reassurance-seeking from partners, parents, doctors or search engines
- Mental review — replaying an event until it feels resolved
Contamination OCD
- Touching a door handle and leaving your hands unwashed for the rest of the hour
- Writing the intrusive thought down and reading it back without arguing with it
- Asking no one whether it is fine, for a whole day
- Handling a bin lid, then eating lunch without a wash first
The Myths and Misconceptions of Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy sounds awful. It's usually the last thing any of us ever want to consider doing. The truth is, the word "exposure" is often misused, and exposure therapy is one of the most highly effective and researched treatments for anxiety, and it's not as scary or awful as it sounds.
Fear is a natural response in the brain, and keeps us safe in many cases. However, our fear response can become 'out of balance' and start impacting the quality of our life. Exposure is about practicing, in small, incremental steps, facing our fear to recalibrate this balance.
You don't have to do things actually dangerous. You don't have to 'like' the thing you are afraid of. There are no tricks, traps, or surprises. Exposure works best when you have a plan and you work through it.
Contamination OCD · weeks 1–6
Where exposure therapy is available today
Exposure therapy can be hard to find. Our mission is to make effective, evidence-based exposure therapies accessible to all. Our map updates in real time as new providers join and our coverage increases. You can help by sharing this page and inviting any therapists that would be a good fit.
Other conditions in the directory
Connect with Motivated Clients. Support Their Recovery with Guided Digital Exposure.
Listing in the Find Exposure Therapy directory is free. We offer a separate tool that improves the efficacy and adherence of exposure treatment by providing real-time adaptive exposure on a catalog of content.
Connect with clients who are ready or already starting on exposure practice and looking for support.
Create your free profilePre-built hierarchies, curated exposure content, homework tracking - improve treatment adherence, reduce drop outs, and save time with Bia's provider portal.
Invite a therapist
Know someone who does real exposure work? Invite them to join the directory.