Hi friend,

If you’ve lived with mindbody/MBS symptoms, maybe you’re familiar with a few of the usual suspects: headaches, gut trouble, insomnia, fatigue, tinnitus, dizziness, skin flare-ups, and the oh-so-lovely chest tightness that convinces you you’re about to keel over in the cereal aisle. And if the symptoms weren’t enough, anxiety often slides into the driver’s seat, whispering, “What if this never ends?”

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is best known as a gold-standard treatment for OCD. But its principles work beautifully for the looping fear patterns behind many neuroplastic conditions. With some creativity—and a good dose of self-compassion—we can use ERP to teach our brains and bodies the message they most need: This is safe. We can move forward.

Why ERP Works Beyond OCD

ERP isn’t about bulldozing through fear or toughing out symptoms. It’s about choosing not to reinforce the cycle of fear and avoidance. When a migraine twinge tempts you to cancel your evening plans, or a dizzy spell has you plotting the fastest exit route from the store, ERP invites you to gently stay put.

Dr. Claire Weekes’ timeless guidance—“Face, accept, float, let time pass”—captures this perfectly. Facing means leaning toward the feared sensation or situation. Accepting means dropping the struggle. Floating means letting the discomfort be there without resistance. And letting time pass means trusting your nervous system to catch up with reality.

It’s not magic. It’s repetition. Each time you resist the urge to run, fix, or avoid, you rewire the brain’s prediction system just a little more.

How Anxiety Fuels the Cycle

Anxiety isn’t just a side effect—it’s often the main event. A stomach cramp is uncomfortable, sure. But what spikes suffering is the mental soundtrack: “What does this mean? Did I eat the wrong thing? What if I can’t make it through this meeting? What if it never stops?”

Dr. Howard Schubiner reminds us: “When the fear goes away, the pain goes away.” In ERP terms, this means that when we stop treating every symptom as a catastrophe, both the anxiety and the body’s overprotective response begin to calm.

ERP addresses both body and mind together. By sitting with the stomach cramp and the “what if” thoughts without rushing for antacids, backup plans, or frantic reassurance, you send the brain a powerful double message: “This is uncomfortable, but not dangerous. I can handle it.”

The Overlap Between OCD and Neuroplastic Conditions

It’s worth noting that many people live with both OCD and neuroplastic symptoms—and the overlap isn’t surprising. Both involve a nervous system that’s learned to overprotect. In OCD, the brain flags thoughts as dangerous and insists on rituals to neutralize them. In neuroplastic conditions, the brain flags sensations as dangerous and floods the body with symptoms.

The common thread is fear.

As Dr. Judson Brewer says: “Every time we feed a habit loop, we strengthen it. Every time we don’t, we weaken it.” Whether the loop involves compulsively checking the stove or avoiding certain foods for fear of stomach pain, ERP interrupts the cycle in the same way: approach the trigger, resist the urge to perform the ritual or safety behavior, and give the brain a chance to learn safety again.

Applying ERP to Everyday Symptoms

Here’s what ERP might look like in practice with some common neuroplastic patterns:

Headaches or migraines: Instead of retreating into a dark room at the first twinge, you stay engaged with whatever gentle activity you’re doing. The brain learns that normal life isn’t dangerous.
Gut issues: You reintroduce a food you’ve avoided, eating slowly and noticing the anxiety that bubbles up. You resist the urge to frantically monitor every gurgle.
Sleep struggles: When insomnia strikes, you lie in bed without scrolling, clock-watching, or rehearsing tomorrow’s disasters. You allow wakefulness to be there, teaching your body it doesn’t need to panic about rest.
Tinnitus or skin flare-ups: Instead of checking, scratching, or masking immediately, you go about your day, acknowledging the sensation but not giving it center stage.
Dizziness or fatigue: Rather than collapsing at the first wobble, you keep moving calmly, reminding yourself, “This is a sensation, not a sign of collapse.”

The common thread? Exposure is about stepping into the situation or sensation. Response prevention is about dropping the escape plan.

Building Safety Without Safety Behaviors

We all have subtle “safety crutches”: water bottles for reassurance, pacing routes to the nearest exit, snacks in case of faintness, endless Google searches for symptom meaning. These behaviors seem harmless, but they whisper to the brain: “See? We needed this to survive.”

ERP asks you to experiment with dropping those crutches. Walk without clutching the wall. Attend the meeting without your “rescue snack.” Go for the drive without memorizing every urgent care location en route. It feels edgy at first—but it’s the very act of doing without that rewires the fear loop.

A Step-by-Step Roadmap

Pick a trigger. Choose a symptom or situation that sparks anxiety. Start small.
Approach with curiosity. Not “Here goes nothing,” but “Let’s see what happens.”
Drop the fix. Resist the urge to tense, distract, or escape.
Allow and observe. Notice the sensation and the anxious thoughts. Let them drift through like weather.
Repeat and expand. Each exposure weakens the old fear pathway. Over time, you can handle more.

Tone Matters: Kindness Over Grit

ERP is not about stoically gritting your teeth until the storm passes. It’s about showing up with warmth and self-trust. When the nervous system is learning safety, the tone of your inner voice matters. A soft, reassuring reminder—“I can feel this and I’m still safe”—is more powerful than a barked order to “get over it.”

It also helps to add a little lightness. If your brain warns that the stomach rumble means “imminent disaster,” you might smile and think, “Thanks, brain, but it’s just lunch settling.” A dash of humor, delivered with gentleness, reinforces the message of safety.

Why ERP Can Change Everything

ERP is powerful because it cuts right through the heart of neuroplastic symptoms: the fear-symptom-fear loop. Symptoms spark fear, fear amplifies symptoms, and the cycle continues. ERP interrupts the loop not once, but at multiple points:

When you stay in the feared situation.
When you let the sensation be without fixing.
When you resist seeking certainty from anxiety.

Each small act of non-avoidance is a vote for safety. And those votes add up to freedom.

Closing Thoughts

Neuroplastic symptoms and anxiety can shrink your world. They tell you to cancel, to retreat, to stick only with “safe” foods, routines, movements, and environments. ERP invites you to reverse that trend—not with force, but with gentle, consistent acts of courage.

When you face the stomach churn, the ringing, the ache, or the spiral of “what ifs” without scrambling for rescue, you’re telling your nervous system the truth: This is uncomfortable, but not unsafe. I am capable of living fully, even with these sensations.

Over time, the symptoms quiet, the fear loosens its grip, and your world expands again. And when your brain pipes up with another dramatic warning? You’ll know how to smile, stay present, and maybe even chuckle a little as you remind it: Thanks, but we’re safe now.

If you are curious to learn more about OCD and its treatment, I recommend reaching out to a local licensed mental health professional (which I am not one…yet!). However, I am happy to help you incorporate some of these ERP-based brain retraining principles into your recovery strategy. Book your free connection call below, and let’s chat!

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Wishing you all well in these last weeks of summer!

Face It. Don’t Fix It. Applying ERP Principles to Neuroplastic Conditions