Created by a licensed psychologist, the Exposure Therapy Toolkit provides therapists and their clients free videos to use when doing exposure therapy for various fears or phobias. These videos make for great in-session exposures (and may be paired with interoceptive exposure if appropriate) and also make for great between-session practice. The videos presented here were intentionally created to be as realistic as possible, with no distracting music or commentary.
Here, you will find playlists of videos related to common fears, such as flying, driving, heights, and so forth. Within each playlist, you will find a number of videos so that you may start with videos that are less anxiety inducing and work up to videos that are more challenging. New videos are added regularly, so I highly recommend subscribing to the channel by clicking the red “subscribe” button, above.
-- A few words about exposure therapy:
When people work with a therapist to overcome specific fears or phobias, they make a list of situations or tasks related to the feared situation that is rank-ordered from least challenging to most challenging. For example, a fear of flying list may include looking at photos of airplanes, imagining sitting in an airport terminal, watching videos of boarding an airplane, going to the airport to walk around, and taking a short flight. There are typically many items on this list with all sorts of nuances. The items on this list are then worked through step by step over a series of weeks as the person’s fear decreases.
-- How should I use these videos?
In order to make exposure effective in reducing fear, it is important for the experience to have sufficient frequency, intensity, and duration.
To this end, I encourage the following:
1. Pick one video to view daily (frequency).
2. Make sure this video is moderately challenging (intensity).
3. Replay that particular video daily for at least 20 (ideally 45) minutes (duration) or until boredom ensues. By the way, boredom is great! It is the opposite of fear!
When that particular video no longer seems challenging, select a new, more challenging video and repeat the steps.
I suggest that you use headphones to have a more immersive, realistic experience. You may even watch through an inexpensive Google Cardboard virtual reality headset and interact with certain videos (e.g., giving a speech while watching one of the public speaking videos). Try to adopt a mindset of interest and curiosity as you watch.
-- Watching these videos is not the same as therapy and does not replace therapy. These videos are tools to help augment the work that you may be doing with your therapist and may also be thought of as a self-help resource. If you are looking for a therapist in your area, you might visit ADAA.org, ABCT.org, PsychologyToday.com, or ask for a referral from your physician.
-- Comment Policy: I have chosen to disable publicly-viewable comments on the RU-vid platform in order to safeguard the identities of individuals who may wish to send me feedback through RU-vid comments, . If you would like to provide me with feedback or request a video topic, you are welcome to leave a comment that only I will see via the comments box in RU-vid. When you post a comment, it will look like your comment has been publicly posted, but it is only viewable on your device. Please note that if you choose to leave a comment on Instagram @exposuretherapytoolkit, it will be publicly viewable.
Due to state licensure rules, I am unable to answer any questions related to therapy online and cannot engage in any sort of therapy or dialog through the comments I receive. If you have questions about exposure therapy, or mental health in general, I encourage you to meet with your therapist.
18 апр 2019
