Dissemination of exposure therapy in clinical practice: How to handle the barriers?

Abstract

Exposure therapy is highly effective especially in treatment of anxiety. In routine care, however, this effective method is in fact rarely applied. Different reasons might account for this deficit. Exposure therapy confronts therapists with personal and structural challenges that seem to conflict with his usual work routines. Besides logistic challenges such as unpredictable duration of exposure, therapist's attitudes as well as fears seem to play an important role. Also, there is a lack of knowledge and skills concerning how to apply exposure appropriately and how to deal with the patient's avoidance tendencies when encountering exposure situations. Further, clear guidelines on how to implement exposure in routine care are lacking.