Engaging with exposure exercises outside of the therapy session is a powerful way to further consolidate the new safety learning occurring during the therapy sessions (Huppert et. al., 2006). Out-of-session exposure exercises additionally support generalized safety learning by varying the context of learning (e.g., in-office vs. at-home contexts). Many people need to combine in-session exposure exercises with some kind of “real-life” situational exposure practice to solidify their learning and to ensure what they’ve learned in the office can be generalized to their real-life experiences (Bouton et. al., 2006). Providing clear and detailed instructions for where, when, how, and how long, to engage in the out-of-session practice can support success. Additionally, the individual needs to take time to review what they learned from conducting the out-of-session exposure exercises as this also supports consolidating learning. The worksheets below are all aimed at helping individuals track their out-of-session exposure exercises and what they are learning. These worksheets can also help individuals identify and plan out-of-session exposure exercises.
Worksheets:
This worksheet guides the user to identify a belief they want to test and how they can test it "in the field" (e.g., in their day-to-day lives). The worksheet then guides the individual to track instances where they put the belief to the test and record what they learn, summarizing at the end. Worksheet available for download in the below languages:
Field Research Observation Record from the Exposure Therapy Consortium | |
Registro de Observación de Investigación de Campo Translation by Hatty Lara, MS and Santiago Papini, PhD | |
Registro de Observação de Pesquisa de Campo Translation by Karyne Machry, Pós-graduação Lato Sensu |
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