ERP fails most often because the mental compulsions were never found. Tick what applies and take the result to your first session — it’s more useful than anything you can recall in a room.
Reviewed by Albert Wong, PhD·Clinical psychologist·Last reviewed September 2026·About this site
Why this matters more than the exposure list
People preparing for ERP tend to focus on what they’re afraid of. But the exposures are usually the easy part to identify — you already know what you avoid. What determines whether treatment works is whether the response prevention is complete, and it can’t be complete if half the compulsions were never named.
When ERP isn’t working, this is the first thing a good clinician checks: someone doing every exposure faithfully while quietly ruminating throughout, so the new learning never happens.
Use it once, not repeatedly
Fill it in, save the result, take it to a session. Do not come back and redo it to check whether your answers were accurate enough — that checking is itself on the list.
Keep reading
43 guides on OCD and ERP, free and without an account. There is a directory here too — it is new, and growing.
General information, not clinical advice; the people described are composites, not real clients. If you notice yourself reading this page to make a feeling go away, that is the loop, and the answer is not another article. Listings on this site are maintained by independent practices. If you are in immediate danger, call 911; the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text any time.