Counterconditioning

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here is a very useful article that I often reference when I can find it, but it's tricky to find.  If you have brain weasels, and especially if you've had bad experiences trying to level-grind your way through exposure therapy, consider this:

Anchoring or counterconditioning is kind of the opposite of exposure therapy. Instead of grinding down a fear reaction, you pause at the threshold of just noticing something -- before it's close enough to be really upsetting -- and then apply wonderful things. Eventually, the dog (or your lizard-brain) will begin to associate the formerly scary thing with the new treat.