Yesterday, I attended the second of two seminars regarding exposure therapy, which can be a useful tool in treating anxiety disorders and other mental illnesses, such as obsessive compulsive disorder. Exposure therapy requires those willing to participate to incrementally face their fears until they can manage the anxiety surrounding them. It can be a useful tool in one’s arsenal in battling mental illness.

Living with anxiety or OCD can be crippling, leaving those who suffer with symptoms such as racing thoughts, heart palpitations, sweating, dizziness and shortness of breath. Exposure therapy can help those living with anxiety, OCD or other mental illnesses manage those symptoms. I have repeatedly said that recovering from mental illness takes work and requires daily effort. Recovery takes commitment to the idea that you are in control of your thoughts, your life and your future. Recovery takes commitment to the idea that your future can be one of mental wellness. You cannot just want to get better; you have be willing to do the work of recovery to get better.

One of the ideas that resonated with me during this two-part workshop on exposure therapy is the concept of want versus willing. What are you willing to do in order to move from mental illness to mental wellness? What steps are you wiling to take to get well and stay well? Your mental health counselor can walk with you as you take these steps, but she or he cannot walk the walk for you. Rest assured, though, that your counselor never will ask you to do anything he or she is not willing to do, as well.

As part of our training yesterday, seminar participants were asked to go on a sort of exposure scavenger hunt where we were required to accomplish tasks many people likely would not want to do, such as touch both the outside and inside of a Dumpster and then touch our faces and not then decontaminate. We also were asked to hug a port-a-potty and not wash our hands. Other tasks included working with a sales clerk in a store for a good time and then not purchase anything, purchasing items in a store and then immediately returning them and standing outside a train station and asking a stranger where the train station was. These are tasks many people have trouble with as they can cause anxiety. We completed these tasks not because we wanted to, but because we were willing to put ourselves in the shoes of people living with anxiety disorders. Want versus willing. What are you willing to do to move past your fears? Many of the tasks we were asked to accomplish were uncomfortable, but not dangerous. Discomfort usually does not mean danger. Facing things that are uncomfortable can make us stronger and help move us toward mental wellness.

If you are someone who is living with anxiety, OCD or other mental illnesses, ask yourself what you are willing to do to move from illness to wellness? What can you do to arm yourself with the tools needed to become well and stay well? What small steps can you take to create for yourself a life worth living? What fears are you willing to face?