Exposure Therapy: Help Clients Heal by Confronting Fear

You have an important meeting with your boss today to discuss your job performance.

You tend to get good feedback, but meetings with the boss make you nervous.

As the meeting approaches, you decide to take several deep breaths before going in. This helps relieve your anxiety.

Once the meeting starts, you feel even better, as you find yourself handling the discussion well.

Whether consciously or not, you just had an informal experience with elements of exposure therapy, in facing an anxiety-provoking situation. It seems to have worked. You felt less anxious by breathing deeply beforehand.

Once in the situation, it dawned on you that you have the resources to cope with fearful situations. The job performance review thereby became less threatening, even pleasant. And it ended with you feeling better about yourself.

If you’d like to know more about the theory behind how exposure therapy works, the types of fear or anxiety that exposure therapy is designed to relieve, the various methods exposure therapy has developed to counter anxiety, and helpful worksheets, read on as we share it all here.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Resilience Exercises for free. These engaging, science-based exercises will help you to effectively deal with difficult circumstances and give you the tools to improve the resilience of your clients, students, or employees.

What Is Exposure Therapy?

Exposure therapy is a set of behavioral approaches designed to reduce anxiety in the face of situations (or objects or actions) that one finds anxiety provoking.

How Does It Work? The Theory Behind Exposure Therapy

There are four interlocking ideas behind exposure therapy.

The first involves approach versus avoidance. Many of us avoid things, people, or situations we are anxious about (avoidance coping). However, avoidance coping does not ultimately make us less anxious about the thing in question.

There is significant research showing that avoiding the source of one’s anxiety tends to maintain that anxiety (Rudaz, Ledermann, Margraf, Becker, & Craske, 2017). If I am afraid of crossing bridges and always avoid them, I will never get over (no pun intended) my underlying fear of bridges. To get over that fear, I need to find some way to approach bridges, rather than avoid them. Exposure therapy is one such approach.

The second key idea is that of habituation. This idea holds that in approaching an object, I will become more used to it and less reactive to it. This is a natural process that each of us can experience in our own lives.

As we become more habituated to things, we react less strongly to them, either positively or negatively. In the context of fear or anxiety, habituation means I have become less afraid after repeated or prolonged exposure to a given object.

The third crucial idea behind exposure therapy is reciprocal inhibition (Wolpe, 1958). This idea holds that to reduce anxiety, we must create a state incompatible with anxiety that neutralizes it. For Wolpe and others, this often meant using relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, to counter anxiety at each step of the way, as one progressively approaches a feared object.

Eventually, one would feel relaxed and unafraid, even at maximum exposure to a feared object (e.g., crossing the Golden Gate Bridge). In such a scenario, a relaxed state would enhance the underlying habituation process, which is already occurring through exposure alone.

The fourth idea behind exposure therapy is that of self-efficacy. In the course of facing our fears, we learn something crucial about ourselves: that we can cope with certain feared things, activities, or situations and, more precisely, how to deal with them.

If I am anxious about bridges, it is only through approaching them that I can be assured of my ability to do so. This builds self-confidence. It is also the way I learn how to best make it across the bridge; for example, by breathing deeply as I cross, keeping my eyes on the far side, or feeling the stability of the road underneath. This practical mastery builds self-confidence and a sense of self-efficacy.

Exposure therapy can also be explained in neurobiological terms. In a review of the literature on the neurobiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), evidence was found for disrupted connections between frontal lobe areas crucial for self-control (including emotional self-control) and other areas known to process strong emotions (amygdala) and form memories (hippocampus).

A form of exposure therapy called prolonged exposure (involving extensive processing of traumatic material, through the memory of traumatic events, and a safe approach to situations that evoke such memories) reportedly increases the neural connections between the brain areas cited above, allowing for “more effective downregulation of emotional processes in stressful situations” (Stojek, McSweeney, & Rauch, 2018) – in other words, better emotional control and ability to cope with stress/anxiety.

Types of Exposure Therapy

There are various forms of exposure therapy. Some are differentiated by the approach they take to the feared “object.”

In in vivo exposure, the client is brought into proximity with the actual object (e.g., a live spider placed on a table in front of them).

In imaginal exposure, the client is asked to imagine the object (e.g., imagine a spider coming into the room with them).

In virtual reality exposure, the client is exposed to a digitized form of the feared situation or object (e.g., spider graphic on a standard computer screen or virtual reality headset).

In interoceptive exposure, the client is asked to pay attention to their physical sensations or processes, including those they might find anxiety provoking (e.g., rapid heart rate, shallow breathing, constriction in the throat, all when faced with a spider).

In narrative exposure, the client is helped to build a chronological narrative about their feared object (e.g., how one came to fear spiders, early experience of spiders).

In exposure therapy with response prevention, the client is exposed to their obsessive thinking through a recording they’ve made, a narrative, etc. They are then asked to inhibit a typical compulsive response to it (e.g., not allowing themselves to pray compulsively, count, or wash their hands).

The response prevention component is meant to decouple one’s obsessions from their accompanying compulsions, thus weakening the obsession-to-compulsion link in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Other types of exposure therapy are differentiated by the intensity of the approach to the feared object.

In systematic desensitization, the subject and clinician develop a “fear hierarchy,” going from least distressing exposure to the thing feared (e.g., thinking about flying in a plane) to the most distressing exposure (e.g., actually flying in a plane).

The subject is put in a relaxed state, then exposed to a lower level of the feared “object.” Once they have gotten comfortable with that level of exposure, they are presented with an incrementally higher level of exposure. The goal is for them to eventually feel relaxed or comfortable at the highest level of exposure (e.g., actually flying in a plane).

In flooding, one jumps immediately to a high or highest level of exposure in one’s fear hierarchy. Flooding can be done in vivo, or by imaginal exposure. It is typically paired with a relaxation technique. Subjects can find this level of exposure difficult, but it can also quickly reduce deep anxiety and is often effective (Davis, Ollendick, & Öst, 2012).

With What Conditions Can Exposure Therapy Help?

Common targets of exposure therapy include specific phobias, like fear of spiders (arachnophobia), fear of needles (trypanophobia), and fear of flying (aerophobia). Exposure therapy has been found to be quite adequate for such phobias.

For example, Lars Öst (2012) has used single-session flooding exposure for fear of flying. In one representative study, his single-session exposure therapy produced an average of 90% reduction in flight phobia, with treatment gains maintained at four-year follow-up.

Exposure therapy has also been used to relieve more general forms of anxiety, such as

• Social anxiety
• Chronic worry as occurs in generalized anxiety disorder
• Hyper-vigilance to threats in the environment
• Traumatic memories or dreams as can occur in PTSD

A form of prolonged exposure therapy – wherein individuals learn to approach their traumatic memories, feelings, and triggering situations gradually – has been found effective for PTSD, including that experienced by victims of sexual assault (Rothbaum, Foa, & Hembree, 2007).

In a study of 1,931 veterans referred for PTSD, prolonged exposure therapy was also found to reduce those meeting clinical thresholds for PTSD, from 87% to 46% (Eftekhari et al., 2013). Prolonged exposure is currently considered the gold standard treatment for PTSD.

Exposure has also been found to be useful for treating components of generalized anxiety disorder (whose core feature is chronic worry), especially as concerns in vivo exposure; for example, inducing an actual worried state about a given topic, followed by induction of a relaxed state to neutralize the worry (Borkovec & Costello, 1993).

Real-Life Examples

Jackie Lea Sommers, who blogs about OCD and creativity, shares her struggle with OCD growing up.

She describes two decades of experiencing OCD in a rare form called “scrupulosity.”

Symptoms primarily involve religiously oriented obsessions and compulsions (e.g., obsession with having blasphemed and thus being doomed to hell or requiring some kind of compulsive ritual such as excessive prayer to avoid hell).

She tried extensive talk therapy, various medications, and psychiatric consults, with no improvement. She was finally referred to an OCD specialist who recommended prolonged exposure therapy with response prevention (ERP). This form of exposure therapy pairs extensive exposure to obsessive material, in this case, the client’s own tape-recorded descriptions of blaspheming and “Hell.”

At the same time, the response prevention element prevented her from engaging in compulsive praying. This technique is meant to decouple one’s compulsions from their obsessive behavioral response.

In Sommers’s case, the treatment was a taste of “hell” itself, quite long and very difficult, but to her great relief, it worked: “It rescued me, and that period of ERP is a defining period of my life” (Sommers, 2013).

Dr. Brenda Wiederhold treats anxiety disorders at virtual reality centers in San Diego and Brussels. She treated an 83-year-old woman with claustrophobia (fear of tight or enclosed spaces) whose physician had ordered an MRI without sedation.

This woman had completely avoided elevators for 40 years. She was too anxious to either ride the elevator up to the MRI clinic or be briefly enclosed in the MRI machine. Her exposure therapy included six virtual reality exposure sessions, which focused on virtually riding an elevator.

She was then able to take the actual elevator ride without distress and also proved able to undergo the (closed) MRI without difficulty. Dr. Wiederhold described this as “really a life-changing event” for her client. The client herself said, “I can’t believe I waited until 83 to do this” (Miller, 2016).

Guidelines, Worksheets, Workbooks

Here is a great selection of guides to further assist with exposure therapy.

Guidelines

APA Division 12 of the Society of Clinical Psychology has described basic guidelines for what is typically called exposure therapy, the types of exposure therapy, and how to go about selecting the best approach for a given client along with a guideline sheet for exposure therapy for PTSD in particular.

Worksheets

Anchor Breathing is a deep-breathing exercise worksheet that can be used to induce relaxation, to be paired with exposure to a feared object or situation.

This Progressive Muscle Relaxation worksheet can also be used to induce relaxation, to be paired with exposure to a feared object or situation.

This Graded Exposure Worksheet helps identify a client’s worst fears and then guides them through gradual exposure from the least feared element to the worst.

Workbook

Mastering Your Fears and Phobias (2006) by Martin M. Antony, Michelle G. Craske, and David H. Barlow is a workbook that contains step-by-step exposure strategies and user-friendly anxiety monitoring forms for self-guided work as well as professional treatments. (Amazon)

Book

Exposure Therapy for Anxiety: Principles and Practice, Second Edition (2019), by Jonathan S. Abramowitz, Brett J. Deacon, and Stephen P. H. Whiteside, has been described by Mark M. Anthony, PhD, ABPP, as “the definitive book on exposure therapy for anxiety-related problems.” (Amazon)

Exposure Therapy Versus EMDR

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a complex treatment for PTSD, and the core feature involves the recall of traumatic memories. At the same time, the client is also engaged in some form of extraneous eye movement, such as tracking the therapist’s finger, until distress is reduced.

While it contains elements of exposure therapy with the exposure to traumatic memories by deliberate recall, its focus on extraneous eye movements has led to its being considered a distinct treatment.

Several studies have compared EMDR with prolonged exposure therapy (PET) in the treatment of PTSD. One representative study found both EMDR and PET to be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms, though with greater efficacy for PET as concerns speed of reduction in avoidant symptoms, reduction in both avoidance and re-experiencing (of trauma) symptoms, and fewer clients in the PET group meeting criteria for PTSD following treatment (Taylor et al., 2003).

Still, EMDR has proven effective for relieving trauma symptoms. Clients should explore the range of exposure therapy options, as well as alternative validated treatments, such as EMDR, and choose the therapeutic option most suited to their needs.

Exposure Therapy Apps

There are a few well-designed apps out there that help people deal with their fears. We mention two here.

Feartools – Anxiety Aid

FearTools is an app available for Android devices.

It covers a wide range of features, and is quite well rated. The company that developed this, Inquiry Health LLC, has a whole range of similar apps, ensuring that their tools are easy to use and reliable.

Breathe2Relax

Breathe2Relax is a free app available for iOS devices through the Apple App Store.

It guides users through breathing exercises, which can be used to induce relaxation and manage fear or stress. It is considered easy to use and is supported by research from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA).

A Take-Home Message

Exposure therapy, in its various forms, has proven very effective in alleviating a wide range of anxiety disorders, including specific phobias, OCD, and PTSD.

Clients struggling with anxiety should consider which form of exposure therapy might work as the best anxiety therapy for them.

Further, exposure therapy is meant to help us not only lose anxiety or fear, but also gain a sense of self-efficacy and mastery in conquering our fears. It can open doors leading you to new experiences, even if it might be as simple as into an elevator or meeting room.

Life is for living, don’t let fears, doors or spiders hold you back.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Resilience Exercises for free.