Exposure-Based CBT

Exposure-based CBT consists of helping youth face their fears and supporting them to reduce their use of avoidance or compulsive behaviors to ultimately help them learn to manage their distress more effectively. Exposure strategies can include having the client make a list of uncomfortable situations and rank those situations from easy to hard (i.e., build a hierarchy), helping the client gradually face their uncomfortable feelings (e.g., anxiety) in a supportive way, and reducing the use of behaviors or compulsions that feel better in the short term but maintain anxiety in the long term.