Danielle Jhiani explains why ERP, not general CBT, is the gold-standard treatment for OCD. Some CBT techniques like thought-questioning can become compulsions. Real recovery means tolerating uncertainty instead of fighting it.
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Hey, everybody, Danielle here. I wanted to come on and answer a question that I just saw that somebody posted. This is a really, really important question that is important to know for a couple reasons. The question was, what's the difference between CBT and erp? So there is a little bit of a difference, and I'm going to explain why and why it's important to know. So CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and it is a way of working with our thoughts when it comes to anxiety, depression, and anything like that. So ERP stands for Exposure and Response Prevention. It's the golden standard treatment for ocd. Okay? And it does fall under the CBT umbrella. It is one of the tools under the cognitive behavioral therapy umbrella. Now, the reason why it's important to understand the difference is because there are some cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that are very effective for ocd, including erp. But there are also some cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that are not effective for OCD and often become compulsions. And this is why, if you are seeking help for ocd, it's really important that you go to an ERP specialist, because typically, if you go to somebody who doesn't specialize in OCD or erp, and every once in a while, believe me, somebody will tell you that they do specialize in one or the other when they don't. And I'll tell you a little bit about how to know in just a minute. But. But if they are doing certain cognitive behavioral therapy techniques with you, those can be very effective for depression. In fact, they are very effective for depression. They can also be effective for some levels of anxiety. But when you get into the OCD spectrum, when you get into that ocd cycle, these techniques are actually ineffective and can become compulsions. And let me tell you two of them. One of the cognitive behavioral therapy techniques is somebody might tell you to do is to take the thought and question the truth. Is this really true? Can I know this is true? Can I know this is 100% true? Okay. Now, as a lot of you know, we can get stuck in that cycle of trying to figure out if it's true. Okay? This is one of the cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that often becomes a compulsion if you have ocd. So I highly suggest not using this if you are dealing with an OCD thought. Okay? Now, the other technique is taking the thought and changing it into a more positive thought. Very, very effective for negative thoughts, depressive thoughts.
Even some forms of anxiety. Okay? Anxiety is a symptom of ocd. Now, if you have an OCD thought Again, I'm going to use a common one. You may or may not have this one. But you know what? If I've fallen out of love with my partner, if you take that thought and make it a more positive thought, and maybe you'll say, no, I really do love my partner. What this could become is the compulsion of giving yourself reassurance. Now, let me tell you why this is ineffective. OCD wants certainty and perfection. Okay? It wants two things, certainty and perfection. The compulsions that you're typically doing are to gain certainty or perfection, and they keep you in the OCD cycle. The recovery from OCD requires that you get comfortable with uncertainty and imperfection. So if you're constantly giving yourself reassurance when you are dealing with an OCD thought, okay? And this is another reason why it's so important to be working with somebody who understands ocd, like myself or somebody else. Whoever you choose, choose.
It's critical to learn the difference. It's critical to learn what's OCD and what isn't. It's critical to learn what to do about it, which is erp effectively. And you're going to learn some of this on your own, but you're going to make it so much further. If you're working with somebody who truly can help you navigate through it, you're going to get further quicker. So those are two cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, techniques that someone who doesn't understand OCD might teach you to use, and they're actually ineffective and they're going to make it worse. Okay? Compulsions make our OCD worse. So let me give you another a cognitive behavioral tool that is effective for ocd, and that's cognitive distortions. When you learn about cognitive distortions, those are the thinking patterns that we can get stuck in, like black and white thinking, fortune telling, or predicting the future. These are cognitive distortions that when we understand what they are, they can be very helpful for ocd. So again, cognitive behavioral therapy, a lot of articles will tell you this is the treatment for ocd, and it's partially true. It's very frustrating for me to see that because there are cognitive behavioral therapies that aren't effective. So it's really important that you are learning the treatment skills and recovery skills from somebody who understands what works.
