What is Exposure with Response Prevention?
Exposure with response prevention (ERP) is an alternative treatment approach designed to treat patients with bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa with the purging sub-type. ERP involves planned, sustained, and repetitive exposures to forbidden foods followed by prevention measures, which prevent the patient from binging and/or purging (Kennedy et al, 1995). There are two variations of ERP treatment. One version is called exposure with response prevention of vomiting (ERP-V). This treatment method involves exposing the patient to forbidden foods, and allowing the patient to eat as much of the food as desired. The patient is then monitored and purging efforts are prevented. Patient monitoring ceases when the patients urge to vomit subsides. The other version of ERP is called exposure with response prevention of binging (ERP-B). This particular treatment method involves exposing the patient to forbidden foods, and allowing the patient to touch, smell, lick, taste, but not binge on the food
