Ep. 65: ERP Is the Coolest Thing!

ERP Is the Coolest Thing!

If you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or any other mental health struggle, you are going to LOVE this episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit. This week we have Nathalie Maragoni, an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist who not only treats Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders, but also knows exactly what it is like the experience the terror of intrusive thoughts, panic attacks and brutal compulsions. She said it best herself: "ERP is the coolest thing!" In this episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit, Nathalie talks with us about how she struggles finding the correct therapy for her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and how she drove for over 1.5 hours to get a treatment specialist who used Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP). Nathalie also talks about her struggle with different types of obsessions and compulsions. She says, "Willingness is the key to managing OCD" and she could not be more correct about this. We just loved how she shared her love for Exposure & Response Prevention and how "ERP is the coolest thing!" Nathalie shares the importance of continuing ERP after treatment. She found that getting the proper treatment alone (ERP) was not enough to help her live a full and thriving life with OCD. She discusses the importance of applying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and how this helps her live a value-based life where she can just allow thoughts to be there, instead of fusing with them. For more information about Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, click HERE. Nathalie talks about how she is using the book The Happiness Trap to help her understand that "Every experience comes with a good feeling and a bad feeling." In other news, Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) school is HERE. Exposure and Response Prevention School is an online course that teaches you the tools and skills I teach my clients in my office. Just like Nathalie says, ERP is the coolest thing! Let me tell you a little bit about it. The course is a video-based course that includes modules on:

1. The science behind ERP
2. Identifying YOUR obsessions and your compulsions
3. The different approaches and types of ERP, including gradual exposure, writing scripts, interoceptive exposures and how to get creative with ERP
4. Mindfulness tools to help you manage anxiety, panic and uncertainty
5. Troubleshooting common questions and concerns
6. BONUS videos explaining the most common subtypes of OCD and how to apply ERP to these obsessions and compulsions.

The course also includes many downloadable PDF's and activities to help you navigate how to best apply ERP to your specific obsessions and compulsions. We are so excited to finally share ERP with you and would love to have you join us and the CBT School community. Its a beautiful day to do hard things! If you are worried about doing it alone, please don't fear. We meet bi-monthly on the FB group and on IG to talk about questions you may have. Nathalie Maragoni is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist at OCDSpecialists.com. They now have offices in Bakersfeild and Los Angeles under Supervisor, Stacey Kuhl Wochner. Nathalie can be found on Instagram at @mindonfire_ocd.