12/2/25 Sarah Jessup: What makes a good exposure? An empirical update on approaches to exposure-based treatment for anxiety disorders and directions for future research
Clinical brown bag
Sarah Jessup, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Time: 12:00- 1:00 pm
Location: 316 Wilson Hall
What makes a good exposure? An empirical update on approaches to exposure-based treatment for anxiety disorders and directions for future research
Exposure therapy is considered a highly efficacious, first-line treatment for anxiety-related disorders. Yet, not everyone responds to exposure therapy and for those who do, fear often returns following successful treatment. Informed by the inhibitory retrieval model, exposure augmentation strategies have been proposed to increase learning and decrease subsequent return of fear. I will briefly review results from prior work examining the efficacy of how exposure with inhibitory learning strategies compares to traditional exposure approaches. Then, from a clinical and research perspective, I will discuss current methods and future directions aimed at more closely examining specific exposure mechanisms and determining what makes a good exposure for whom.