Habituation During Exposure and Response Prevention.
Habituation and Inhibitory Learning:
During exposure and response prevention (ERP), repeated exposures along with effective response prevention that leads to reduction in distress is called habituation. When you are experiencing habituation or have habituated, you have learned to tolerate anxiety/distress that is brought on by the obsessions without having to engage in a compulsion. That with time, the distress decreases naturally. Habituation is like jumping into a cold pool. I am staying in the cold water until my body acclimates or habituates to the temperature. I am not able to habituate to the temperature if I jump out of the pool the moment by body hits the cold water. During ERP, signs of habituation can show progress.
Habituation is not the only sign of progress in ERP, inhibitory learning can be involved. Inhibitory learning involves a fear or a belief that is inhibited by additional knowledge and experiences. An example of inhibitory learning can be seen with compulsions of washing clothes excessively. If I fear that I will get sick if I do not wash my clothes every day, and I resist the compulsion to wash over and over, you will come to learn that the compulsion was not necessary in keeping you safe. Inhibitory learning looks to add the knowledge and beliefs about these events through the experiences you engage in. My new take away after the repeated exposures becomes that I did not get sick as a result of not washing my clothes every day. This new information inhibits the old belief that I “had” to wash my clothes every day in order to not get sick.
While we look for habituation and inhibitory learning during ERP, there are also other things that can indicate that ERP is working and that you are developing the skills you need to manage OCD in the long term such as:
Developing acceptance of uncertainty and unpredictability.
Strengthening your connection with your values and identity.
Willingness to enter into uncomfortable situations.
Greater tolerance for anxiety, levels of anxiety may remain the same or fluctuate.
As a licensed mental health therapist trained in ERP, I will assist you through the exposures and how to implement effective response prevention measures. If you feel that OCD has had a negative impact on your life, you might consider counseling and ERP to learn how to handle it more effectively. Please feel free to reach out for a free consultation, where we can discuss impacts of OCD and benefits of counseling/ERP.
