Important info for those who have used #CBTWorks (exposure therapy) to overcome panic attacks, social anxiety, phobias, OCD, & other fears.

First: you're amazing.

Second: Don't forget to guard against spontaneous reinstatement.

What's spontaneous reinstatement? A thread. 1/4

When we do exposure therapy for fears, we learn that a feared situation (like riding a bus or talking to strangers) is actually safe. This is called inhibitory learning.

Inhibitory learning doesn’t ERASE old associations and memories; it just pushes them into the background. 2/4

When we’re out of our exposure context for a while, spontaneous reinstatement can occur.

This means that our old associations – including old fears -- pop back up, sometimes as strong as they were before.

This happens even more if we’re under stress. 3/4

What can we do about it?

Keep practicing. Keep reinforcing your new, healthier associations.

For fear & anxiety, that means finding creative ways to keep doing exposures. There great ideas out there for how to do this. I’ll link some below. Feel free to do the same. 4/4

This list has some really nice ideas for social anxiety exposures.

Tagging some folks who may also have suggestions or resource lists to add: @DrAmeliaAldao @reginegalanti @DrMaryAlvord @sciCarly @DrKathrynGordon @DrSamanthaMyhre @Doctor_Amanda https://twitter.com/margaret_crane1/status/1247914389656797187?s=20