What Exposure Therapy Actually Feels Like (The Mentos/Jelly Bean Exercise)
About this episode
This episode guides listeners through a live experiential exercise to demonstrate the feelings associated with Exposure and Response Prevention in OCD treatment.
In this episode of Breaking the Rules , we do something a little different — we guide you through a live experiential exercise used in therapy to demonstrate how Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) actually feels in the moment. Using a simple jelly bean (or Mentos), we walk through an exercise that highlights one of the most important lessons in OCD treatment: the urge to escape discomfort can be powerful, but it can also be tolerated. Through this exercise, we explore how quickly the mind and body react to discomfort, how intrusive thoughts and urges show up, and how reconnecting with meaning and values can shift our relationship with those experiences. Experiential exercises like this are commonly used in ACT, DBT, and ERP therapy because they allow people to learn through doing , rather than just talking about the skills intellectually. In this episode we discuss: What experiential exercises are and why they are powerful in therapy Why learning skills during calm moments is different from using them during triggers The Mentos (or jelly bean) exercise used to simulate urge surfing and response prevention What happens in the mind and body when discomfort rises Intrusive…
More episodes of Breaking the Rules: A Clinician's Guide to Treating OCD
- Exposure Therapy in a Public Bathroom
- OCD and Productivity: The Struggle Behind the Scenes
- Perfectionism, Process-Based Therapy & The Anxious Perfectionist
- Developmental Patterns in OCD Onset and Flare-Ups
- Contamination OCD Isn’t Quirky
- Readiness, Uncertainty, and Behaviour Change in OCD Treatment
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