17/04/2026
When therapists say “sit with the discomfort” during ERP… this is what they actually mean.
It doesn’t mean: ❌ Pretending the discomfort feels good, forcing positive thinking to cancel it out, distracting your way through the spike, arguing with the fear or proving it wrong.
It does mean: ✅ Noticing the sensations of anxiety, choosing not to escape, neutralise, or reassure, allowing the intensity to rise and fall on its own, watching the wave shift naturally without interfering.
Remember that anxiety cannot stay at full volume forever. It’s built to fluctuate. It will peak, and then fall.
What keeps it stuck in a loop is every time you check, reassure, or neutralise, your brain concludes: “Phew. That was dangerous. Good thing we avoided it.”
And the fear continues… grows stronger.
ERP is about moving through your life with the discomfort alongside you. You’re living while it’s there, teaching your brain that not doing the compulsion is uncomfortable, not dangerous.
That’s when things shift. Not because the feeling or thoughts magically vanish. But because you stop putting your life on pause for it. Over time you will build confidence, realise you don’t need to listen to the OCD bully, and that thing that initially seemed so scary?.... won’t be anymore😊
