The Therapist's Toolkit: Exposure Therapy



Exposure therapy is central to the evidence based treatment of each of the anxiety disorders. In each case it involves identifying the true trigger for the client’s anxiety, and presenting carefully calibrated intensities of that trigger to the client for extended periods. Though straightforward in theory, exposure therapy can be complex in practice.

This one-day workshop covers:
  • The basic theory underlying exposure therapy.
  • Identification of the feared element in each of the DSM-IV anxiety disorders.
  • An illustration of the principle using the simplest case: specific phobia.
  • Practice developing exposure hierarchies.
  • Discussion of the relative advantages of in vivo and imaginal exposure.
  • Integrating relaxation strategies with exposure therapy.
  • Feared experience and setting exposure for agoraphobia.
  • Interoceptive exposure for panic disorder.
  • Exposure and response prevention for obsessive compulsive disorder.
  • Feared-outcome exposure for generalized anxiety disorder.
  • Social setting and impression-based exposures for social phobia.
  • Imaginal and in vivo exposure strategies for post traumatic stress, including techniques to moderate the intensity of the experience.

Supplied to Participants: PDF electronic copies of anxiety treatment forms and handouts for clients, plus a set of presentation slide handouts.

Who should attend?

This program is suited to both newer and more experienced clinicians wishing to use effective exposure-based techniques in their own work with anxious clients.

The course can be combined with Relaxation Skills Training to create a two-day program.