Before conducting any of these exposures, though, you’ll want to spend some time doing a little prep work to give you the greatest shot at having a successful exposure experience. Note that the definition of success is not that you feel no discomfort, but rather that you stay with the exercise in spite of any discomfort you might feel. Think back to the Cognitive Reappraisal section in Module 4. Recall that catastrophic thinking and jumping to conclusions are two of the most common thinking traps people can fall into. Now think about the exposure exercise you’re about to try and ask yourself the following questions (and write down the answers):
- What’s the worst that could happen? How bad is that really?
- Am I 100% certain that this event will happen?
- So what if it happened?
- What’s the actual likelihood that it will occur?
- If it happened, what would I do?
- Has it ever happened before? How did I cope then?
- What evidence do I have that it will occur?
- Is there any information I might be missing that someone else might identify?
- What’s happened in the past in a similar situation?
Make sure to review your answers before you go into the selected exposure exercise, and really spend some time thinking and planning the exercise. Ideally, your exposure exercise should give you time to feel the emotions and physical sensations and to allow them to subside at least somewhat before you think of leaving the situation. What you absolutely don’t want to do is to go into a situation and leave at the height of your emotional-physical reaction, because it will only reinforce your fear of the situation. That is why it is best to start with an exposure exercise at a lower distress level, so you can see what it’s all about. If you absolutely have to leave the situation before your distress starts to come down, take more of a time out or break, and then return to the situation. In other words, don’t leave completely.