Danielle Jhiani explains how Exposure and Response Prevention works: avoidance reinforces fear, but regular exposure to triggers reduces discomfort until they stop bothering you. The key is consistency.
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Welcome back. My name is Danielle and I'm anxiety and OCD recovery coach who has recovered from multiple subsets of ocd. And I help others do the same. Today we're going to talk about triggers. And if you have triggers right now, what I want you to know is they're actually your path to recovery. These are things that you can use with exposure to eventually get to the point where they don't trigger you anymore. And that is the goal. We're all going to have things in life that trigger emotions, but what we're learning to do here is for that emotion to be in line with what's actually happening. When we have ocd, a lot of times the emotion, maybe the anxiety or discomfort is way up here, when in reality the situation should not cause that much discomfort. So you can get there to where your discomfort is in line with what's really happening. A lot of times that's no discomfort. Sometimes it's very mild. But if you're experiencing a lot of anxiety, most of the time, that should not be happening. And your triggers right now, you might be avoiding those because they're causing you a lot of discomfort. But the more you try to avoid those, the more it reinforces the fear and the discomfort. And it teaches your brain that this is something uncomfortable. This is something that we need to be afraid of and look out for and avoid. And then it just reinforces that fear. And your brain becomes more hyperactive, more hypersensitive, and seeks and looks for danger more often, which gives you more triggers, more intrusive thoughts, and more discomfort. So when you learn and apply ERP regularly, over time, the discomfort with these thoughts goes down. Eventually, these triggers are no longer triggers. They don't bother you anymore. And you're able to cope with life just like everybody else does, which is something I'm sure you've been looking forward to. It just takes change. Changing the way that you react to triggers, changing the way that you react to uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. And over time, the OCD fades away, the discomfort fades away, and those things no longer trigger you. So you can eliminate triggers from your life. And it may not feel like it right now because again, you're focusing on the current feelings. But feelings are not facts. This can change. Everybody who does the work shifts, and these triggers are no longer triggers. If you do the work and you take it far enough, you can get there, too.
If this video was helpful for you, please subscribe. Like comment? Click on the bell to get notifications of my new videos so that you can be the first to see them. Supporting this channel is really, really helpful and important to me because I want to continue to provide help for all of you to get to the point that I'm at where OCD is no longer a thing in your life, anxiety is no longer a thing in your life. And you can live a happy, healthy life with happy, healthy relationships. And I know that you can all get there. It's just a matter of getting the right help. And if you don't feel like you're getting that help right now, check out the link in my description to look at the recovery programs that I have. I have cost effective programs as low as $27 available for you. I want you to get better, and I know you can. We'll talk to you.
