Both components, exposure to feared situations or thoughts, and the prevention of rituals, whether physical or mental, are necessary to maximize the treatment response.
Clinicians can easily learn the basic principles from published sources.
Most of the behavior therapy literature concerns patients with cleaning or checking rituals. Whether other OCD symptoms respond as well is yet to be determined. None of these is true. Informally asking the patient to expose himself to a particular feared situation and resist performing the compulsion may be helpful, especially after several months of effective drug treatment. Explain the rationale of therapy.