ERP (Exposure & Response Prevention) Use it in your life as well as on your symptoms of anxiety
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Click here for my anxiety education course here / theanxietyspecialist
ERP - Exposure and Response Prevention is one of the best ways to overcome anxiety; however, many people do not understand the intricacies of it and fall into the Negative ERP Trap which often makes anxiety or intrusive thoughts worse.
This short animation outlines how you might do effective ERP on yourself.
My OCD recovery course has over sixty videos that will teach you what anxiety is, how to interrupt it, how to reprogram your brain and desensitise your body, then, how to see life (and re-engage with life) differently so it can never return.
It is by becoming a new person, who thinks and behaves in new ways that will allow you to find more calmness, confidence and direction.
If you only watch one clip from this video, make it the information between these two-time stamps 4:56 to 7:37 as this is what you need to comprehend about ERP in great depth.
As you all know, I am a huge supporter of ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) because, done well, it works! In this brief animation, I have attempted to summarise twenty years of my experience with it in order to help you see it in a new and positive light - as a highly effective process when executed correctly.
Most anxious individuals can't see that they are already ERP specialists but are using ERP negatively to (unknowingly) reinforce their fears rather than to ease and overcome them.
It is only by waking up to the fact that you might be unknowingly doing this - that you'll be able to break that negative addiction and replace it with a positive one!
Please give me/yourself 18 minutes - so I can teach you one of the biggest mistakes people make when doing ERP.
ERP for anxiety recovery is a comprehensive approach to managing and overcoming anxiety that integrates various resources, strategies, and techniques into a structured and cohesive framework. While ERP is traditionally associated with business management systems, it has been adapted and utilised in the context of mental health to address and alleviate anxiety symptoms.
The primary goal of ERP for anxiety recovery is to help individuals identify, understand, and effectively manage their anxiety through a systematic process. This approach often involves the collaboration of mental health professionals, including therapists, counselors, and psychiatrists, to create a personalised ERP plan tailored to the specific needs and challenges of the individual.
One of the fundamental components of ERP for anxiety recovery is the identification of triggers and stressors that contribute to the experience of anxiety. By recognizing these triggers, individuals can begin to develop coping mechanisms and responses to effectively manage and reduce their anxiety symptoms. This process may involve cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques, which aim to reframe negative thought patterns and behaviors associated with anxiety.
ERP for anxiety recovery also emphasises gradual exposure to anxiety-provoking situations in a controlled and supportive environment. This exposure allows individuals to confront their fears and anxieties in a structured manner, enabling them to build resilience and tolerance over time. Through repeated exposure and practice, individuals can learn to manage and mitigate their anxiety responses, leading to increased confidence and reduced overall anxiety levels.
Furthermore, ERP may involve the development of healthy lifestyle practices that support anxiety management, such as regular exercise, mindfulness and relaxation techniques, and improved sleep hygiene. These lifestyle factors can significantly impact an individual's overall well-being and resilience to anxiety.
In addition to individual interventions, ERP for anxiety recovery may also incorporate elements of social support and community involvement. Peer support groups, family involvement, and community resources can play a valuable role in providing encouragement, understanding, and a sense of belonging for individuals navigating anxiety recovery.
Overall, ERP for anxiety recovery is a holistic and integrated approach that addresses the multifaceted nature of anxiety. By combining individualised therapy, exposure techniques, lifestyle adjustments, and social support, ERP offers a comprehensive framework for individuals to effectively manage and ultimately overcome anxiety, empowering them to lead fulfilling and balanced lives.
Enjoy.
#AnxietyEducation #ERP #OCDRecovery #CBT #AnxietyManagement #ExposureTherapy #PeerSupport #HolisticApproach
Much love - John Glanvill
/ theanxietyspecialist
What an awesome video! 😊
😅😮😊😊 0:49
@@jayantibhaipate😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
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एल एल पोल ,जी3
@@jayantibhaipate😅
John, you are such a blessing. You have contributed greatly to my healing. I have battled with this for 2 years now, often times my mind spinning out of control. I have felt such peace in a matter of just a few of your videos. I finally feel in control of my mind. I feel comfort in the discomfort. I want to say that I am healed from your videos but don't want to speak prematurely. Those of you reading, HAVE HOPE, DO NOT think you are too far gone or beyond help. Thank you so much for your videos.
Thank you for your kind words I appreciate them - John
Thank you for everything john !!
For about a week i was able to practically do erp with hardly any obsessive thoughts stressing me out , and hardly did i have any anxiety at all , all i needed to do when those sets of thoughts come was say skip or ignore in my mind and just place my focus on something else , then i noticed that the thoughts wasn't ever a problem , the problem was how i responded to them , then i also noticed at some point that in some way i was kind of used to the who i was before and the way my brain has been conditioned to see things or reason so i tend to want to go back to these former way of thinking because it is what i was used to doing unconsciously and that is where the difficulty lies because at some point again , i found myself getting caught up in these thoughts all over again and doing the old conditioned stuff i initially tried to stop. Now my question is what more can i do to make this change permanent and less challenging for me because i don't want to live like this.
Repetition - engage with life - desensitize your body - ignore your thoughts!
I'm going to bookmark this video. It is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks John! I'll be sharing this video with friends who have anxiety and/or OCD.
Good for you! I am so pleased it has connected with you. Please do share it as much as you wish - helping people to understand themselves so they can help themselves escape anxiety is what my work is all about. My course is just £5 per month, so anybody can get the help they need. Best wishes John
@@TheComplexAnxietySpecialisthow can I join I am from India ❓
Hi, my course is hosted by Patreon, and they take all payments securely via PayPal or credit cards. I believe the Indian government/banks may have made PayPal hard to access. Try here (www.patreon.com/theanxietyspecialist) and see how you get on; I know I have many Indian subscribers who do use credit cards to get access. Let me know how you get on. Thanks, John
@@mujahidkupe15) it it
Have you taken a real good look around today? No one accepts responsibility for ANYTHING! Your video is excellent, but with the soaring numbers of people with disorders, I can understand why. Best wishes sir!
Sadly, you are right! We each are responsible for our own internal happiness, regardless of what happens externally to us - it is a skill we can learn, but schools don't teach it for some strange reason! 🙂
Sabhi ko koti koti sadar Naman
This is similar to act therapy 😅
Yes, of course - all sensible advice goes in the same direction, no matter what it is called! But, sadly, still, many people with anxiety unknowingly resist that which will expand their lives, especially if it causes discomfort, and this is the story that often needs addressing. Thanks for your input. John
Hello Mr. John.
I have been suffering from HOCD for some time now, but I'm sure I'll get over it sooner or later. You channel has been a real blessing so far, so thank you for that!
I have a question. Whenever I sit down, or rest in a comfortable situation, my legs start to shake. It has been going on since I was a kid. I think some people call it restless leg syndrome. I was just wondering if there is any relation between RLS and general anxiety? Thank you for these videos, you are saving lives.
I do occasionally see this in people with complex anxiety - as they calm down, ticks, shakes, and emotions often begin to arise.
I talk about this in videos 9 and 12 in my course. It is my guess that it is related to unprocessed childhood trauma (stuck energy) that needs to be released from your body. It can't be released while you are busy and stressed; however, as you calm down, that is the signal for this trauma to come up (and become released). But, it scares the person; they get stressed again, and it the trauma gets pushed back down.
I discuss this trauma release in video 15, part 2. This is only a pattern, but often, how/where the distress is located (i.e. your legs) may relate metaphorically to how you felt during that trauma - like problems with your legs may point to you receiving some childhood trauma that you couldn't run from.
If this makes sense - it is useful to relive (in your head) the old story of those childhood fears - and then actually stand up and spring (run away) as this often breaks the old bodily imprint.
HOCD - also usually has an underlying element that unconsciously hopes you are not as bad as the person who hurt you.
@@TheComplexAnxietySpecialist thank you for the reply. Could you please elaborate on the last point about HOCD if possible?
The OCD makes a person focus on a thing 'that they wouldn't naturally do' - this is why it scares them. If you were a killer, you wouldn't worry about harming a person.
The mind makes associations from past people/events that may have harmed you - and it classifies them as bad.
So, the OCD makes you have scary thoughts - which scare you - then it associates with the story that you must be bad too - Even though it is only the OCD brain that is making up those thoughts.
Bottom line is - those thoughts don't mean anything - except they are what the brain is using to sabotage your life - See videos 1 through 6)
Hey John, do you think yawning is a form of releasing trapped emotions/trauma/stress from the body? I did some stretches today after waking up and I have yawned a lot, even though I had plenty of sleep.
Yes, I do. It is also an anxiety unconscious sabotage. When a person is reading about (or working with) information that would end their anxiety, the complex anxiety tries to (unconsciously) make the conscious mind 'not interested' by forcing yawns. It is quite clever, really!
How do you do erp when the intrusive thoughts are of sexual, blasphemous, sadistic, incestuous, pedophelic, beastiality acts and nature? And on top of that, they create a groinal response? How can one go through with ERP allowing themselves to willingly experience these unthinkable and unforgivable emotions? I’m afraid ERP isn’t meant to be for someone like me 😔
This type of anxiety/OCD is a little specialised and occurs in both men and women (although a female groinal response is less externally obvious, though no less worrying). Very often, these individuals who have this type of anxiety are more than averagely dominant and controlling people who have had those parts of their nature repressed during childhood or schooling - this leaves them wanting to get on with life and take action, but feeling anxious and unable.
To put it another way, who they really are (nature), but who they feel they are (nurture) has been placed in conflict, and that inner turmoil has exhausted their biology through excessive worry, fear and procrastination, doubt and fear.
As I discussed in videos 2,3,4,5,6, after long periods of anxiety or trauma - the person's exhausted unconscious brain begins to sabotage that person to pull them away from life using anxiety or OCD.
The model it uses is to scare the person each time they leave the house - so they will stay home and recharge. Eons ago, before we developed our intelligent thinking brain, this simple biological model made sense. However, these days, the same process happens - we withdraw from life and stay at home, but rather than resting and recharging - the intelligent thinking brain makes us more anxious and exhausted worrying about staying at home and not getting on with our life! Quite a catch 22 loop that needs breaking!
In your instance - it is a clever unconscious sabotage (video 30) because it is using a thing that is natural to hijack you. For example, if I purposefully think about sexual things, I get aroused, and that is normal. If I awake from an erotic dream, I may be aroused, and that is normal. I can accept that my dreaming brain chose to dream about sexy things, and my body just responded - because that is what it does!
Our body unconsciously believes all the brain's thoughts are true (regardless of their truth, as I mentioned in video 2).
However, most people can't see that our daytime waking thoughts also come from that same place! Thoughts appear to us in our mind, we observe them - then we have a choice - ignore them, explore them, act on them, or argue with them!
One of the first steps in ERP (remember, you are looking at video 50 here) is to accept that you are the observer of the thoughts the brain proposes. You are not your brain, and you are not your thoughts; you have a brain and that brain proposes thoughts to you based on how it was conditioned through your life, parents, schooling, religions and culture.
From this new perspective (though many people who have never meditated struggle with it as they are so identified as being their thoughts) when, of course, they are just the observer of the mind, like a Soul watching what the basic animal-human is doing and thinking.
Humans are animals, and under all those stories of being advanced humans, we are still simple animals; how else could there be so many wars, rapes, murders, scams etc.?
However, as a species, we are evolving (and that is wonderful) - and those people who fear doing bad things (by definition of their fear) mean they are good people who won't do those things!
So, OCD - scares you by using the opposite of who you are - to frighten you to make you withdraw from life to recharge emotionally.
If you were 12 years old and watching tv with your parents and a sexy scene came on that aroused you - you might feel embarrassed (though what is happening to you is ABSOLUTELY natural) - clever parents might say, "Don't worry, son, that is normal, we understand - this is just how life is... We are animals that unconsciously respond to visual stimuli, be that from what we see or what the brain thinks." This would create a certain belief system in that child.
However, if the parents say, "That is wrong, or God will punish you, or you must learn how to control arousal (which means to fight nature) you will begin to align with a different belief system that will subsequently (and unconsciously) drive how you see life as an adult.
Can you see what a massive topic this is - this is why I have had to make so many videos in my course to teach people what it is all about.
But to go back to your question - things you can do are:
1. Recognise that thoughts (daydreams) from YOUR body's brain - that the observer of those thoughts thinks are 'Unthinkable and Unforgivable." Is the starting point of your recovery. I never listen to any of my thoughts, in fact, most of the thoughts from my brain are quite crazy! But that doesn't make me crazy, I would be crazy if I were listening to them!
2. Secondly, if you focus on those thoughts rather than ignore them, they persist (and the body follows) - ERP (in this case) is to bring your attention away from the thoughts and into other factors like your breath, how your body is moving and other ERP techniques explained in my course.
3. In this case - ERP is not about stopping thoughts, understanding thoughts or silencing the mind - it is about learning to ignore them!!!!!!!
To not focus on them, to ignore them.
Many creative people have wild imaginations; what if you were a horror book writer? If you had thoughts about rape, murder, demons, sex with children etc., you'd say wow, I have such a wonderfully creative imagination; let me use that innate and unconscious talent to write a book about it! Then you would sleep soundly that night - why? Because you wouldn't identify as being the author of your thoughts, and those thoughts do not make you a bad man!
Especially if, during childhood, your belief system had been conditioned to recognise that.... What the brain thinks is not what defines you - what the man does defines him!!
You have become obsessive about your inner thoughts (which will trap you) - and you need to use that obsession on the intentions for what you wish to externally do with your life!
A person with OCD uses thoughts and feelings to guide their actions - whereas a 'sensible' person uses the "Intention" of who they wish to become and what they wish to do (Video 32 part2) as their decision-making - they then, ignore their thoughts and feelings and just act in ways that make those intentions happen.
I don't know if there is a God or not - but I act as if there is. But in my inner reality (video 45) I have faith that God will judge me on what I DO with my life (as that is reality), not what I think - as that is just the animal brain in my head! I can influence what I do, but I can't control what the brain in my head does - so I just ignore most of my thoughts and get on with my life - as a good man.
You can do the same! I hope this helps a little - there is much you can do, but you need to develop an open mind and try out new things out to see what happens, to be sceptical, but to still try new things.
Often, people with this condition have one very dominant parent who really follows rules, and they come from a culture like Ireland, where religion and sex are very interlinked, this often makes them very conflicted inside and often sceptical too. However, there is much that can be done.
Best wishes John
You might find this video interesting ua-cam.com/video/8XRnQHC1y8g/v-deo.html