One of my first questions to a professor in my earliest IOCDF BTTI (Exposure Therapy training) at Massachusetts General Hospital was, “What happens if someone actually gets sick after a contamination exposure?”  I haven’t forgotten the simplicity of the answer that went something like this: “People get sick all the time. Yes, that might create some additional hesitancy to face exposures at first, but you have an incredible opportunity for learning.”  Life involves not only facing bad things that don't happen, but also bad things that do.

Exposure Therapy involves the systematic confrontation of fearful triggers while reducing and eliminating fearful, pathological responses.  In the end, it can relieve a lot of suffering.

During this global pandemic of COVID-19, people actually are getting sick.  One might not think the principles of exposure therapy would apply (i.e., "Don't you do exposure therapy for risks that don't happen?").  Quite the contrary.  I believe exposure therapy provides one of the best evidence-based ways forward, helping us stand up to fear we need to squarely face.  So today, whether you have a disorder or not, there is an opportunity for learning and growth in the face of COVID-19.  

This guide, "Thriving Mental Health Alongside COVID-19," is dedicated to my clients and the IOCDF and provides a thorough summary of the main steps of Exposure Therapy with me, with key tips for general mental health.  May you be enriched by this!

~Justin