What is the primary goal of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) in OCD treatment?

• A. to increase engagement in rituals
• B. to strengthen reasoning about obsessions
• C. to habituate the person to the anxiety associated with an act so that it lessens and the ritual stops
• D. to eliminate all anxiety instantly

Answer: (C)

ERP targets reducing the link between distress from obsessions and the urge to perform rituals by exposing the person to feared stimuli or thoughts and preventing the ritual response. With repeated exposure and without engaging in the ritual, anxiety rises and then gradually declines (habituation), making the ritual less compelling over time and reducing future urges to ritualize. This gradual decrease in anxiety and ritual behavior is the core aim, not an immediate elimination of all anxiety. The goal isn’t to increase rituals, nor merely to bolster rational thinking about obsessions, but to break the cycle through practiced exposure and response prevention.