When I tell people I specialize in the treatment of anxiety disorders and OCD, the most common response is along the lines of “Do you make people lick toilet seats and hold snakes?” Last night, I was giving a talk for my book when someone made the comment, “Exposure therapy won’t work for me because I’m not jumping off a bridge.” When I commented that life is basically a series of exposures, the group looked at me, perplexed—something I’m quite used to. If we consider exposures more simply as facing discomfort, it’s easier to understand how life can be a series of exposures. Exposure therapy, on the other hand, is a manualized, evidence-based intervention that systematically teaches you how to approach that discomfort.

I certainly don’t advocate for people to engage in clinical exposure therapy on their own (and certainly do not ask people to lick toilet seats or hold snakes against their will). My point is broader: Any time we get out of our comfort zone and feel uncomfortable, that’s technically an exposure (to discomfort). The key, whether for successful........

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