🚨Welcome to the Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Course for Everyday People
Free Course by Everything IFS Academy | Therapeutic Modalities Series
In 1966, a London psychologist named Victor Meyer tried something his colleagues considered too bold to work on a condition considered nearly untreatable, and it became the foundation of the most effective OCD treatment ever developed. Researchers like Edna Foa spent the following decades refining and proving it, until ERP earned the title it still holds today: the gold-standard, first-line treatment for OCD, backed by more than fifty years of research. The insight at its heart has never changed, and it runs against every instinct fear gives us: lasting freedom comes not from soothing a fear, but from facing it while declining the rituals that keep it alive.
This course teaches pure ERP, with no other modalities blended in, written in plain, emotionally relatable language for everyday people. You'll learn how obsessions and compulsions lock together into a loop, how exposure ladders break overwhelming fears into climbable steps, and what response prevention really asks of you in the moment the urge to ritualize hits. Each module offers clear teaching and real-life examples, and ends with a simple ERP practice so you can begin using the skill right away. It isn't clinical training for therapists and doesn't offer continuing education credits; it's ERP you can put to use in your own life.
Who Writes Our Courses?
They're a human-AI collaboration, and here's our 6 step process:
1. Humans design the courses and set the teaching standards and outlines
2. Humans and AI work together to shape the arc of each lesson
3. AI drafts the lessons
4. Humans review, direct, and edit alongside AI
5. A human approves every lesson before it's published
6. Each finished course then goes to ElevenLabs, where it's recorded by one of their AI voices
Every course is self-paced, with no tests, exams, or homework. Feel free to go through it in order, or jump around to whatever interests you most. Simply click any module below to begin.
Course outline
Click any lesson below to begin. Take them in order or jump straight to what interests you.
The Basics
What Is ERP?
Who Created ERP?
The OCD Cycle
Mapping Your OCD
Recognizing Obsessions: Intrusive Thoughts, Images, and Urges
Identifying Compulsions: Rituals, Mental Compulsions, Avoidance, and Safety Behaviors
The SUDS Scale (Subjective Units of Distress, 0 to 100)
Building the Exposure Hierarchy
The Exposure Work
In Vivo Exposure: Running an Exposure Session
Imaginal Exposure and Worry Scripts
Interoceptive Exposure
The Response Prevention Work
Response Prevention: Eliminating, Delaying, and Modifying Rituals
Cutting Off Reassurance-Seeking
Tolerating Uncertainty: The "Maybe, Maybe Not" Response
Making It Stick
Inhibitory Learning: Making Exposures Stick
Relapse Prevention
Living It
Using ERP in Everyday Life
Going Deeper
ERP Across the OCD Themes
Disclaimer:
Everything IFS Academy is an independent educational platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the IFS Institute. While we strive for accuracy, errors can occur, and users are encouraged to cross-reference critical information. These courses, lessons, skills, and practices are offered for educational and self-reflection purposes only. They do not constitute therapy, mental health treatment, clinical training, or crisis support, and they should not be used as a substitute for professional mental health care.
Crisis Support: 🚨
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, feel unsafe, feel at risk of harming yourself or someone else, or feel too overwhelmed to safely use self-directed practices, please pause this material and reach out for immediate support. Contact a licensed mental health professional, call or text 988 in the U.S. or Canada, or use your local emergency or crisis resources.
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