Exposure and response prevention (ERP) mainly focuses on reducing fear, which is a good fit for patients who do compulsions in response to anxiety or to avoid feared outcomes. However, many people with OCD report symptoms driven by emotions other than fear or anxiety, especially disgust and “not just right” feelings. This type of OCD, called “non-fear-based OCD”, tends to be less responsive to traditional ERP.

This project aims to develop and pilot test a treatment protocol that describes ways to modify standard ERP to address non-fear-based OCD. This will involve studying what experts in non-fear-based OCD are doing with patients and writing about, creating new treatment and training materials, and getting feedback on these materials from clinicians working with OCD.