In episode 247 I chat with Dr Steven Phillipson. Steven is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD. Steven is the Clinical Director at the Center for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy in New York.

In this episode I chat with Steve about why some people get more from Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP) quicker than others, what is ERP and why it works, what are some common reasons that complicate the success of ERP, he gives plenty of OCD theme examples, when the need to do therapy right can become a secondary obsession itself, the idea of irrelevance, how the therapeutic relationship can affect treatment outcomes, the importance of homework, the importance of doing response prevention when doing exposures, why it’s ok if you don’t get anxious when doing an exposure, mental compulsions, educating significant others, an ideal mindset for doing ERP, getting more out of the sessions from recording them (with your therapist’s permission), why starting too high up the hierarchy may not be a good thing, why building on success in therapy is helpful, how desperation and control can interfere with therapy, and much much more. Hope it helps.