Reexponering

Reexponering is the act of exposing someone or something again to a stimulus, situation, or signal after an initial exposure. The term is used in several contexts, with the most developed usage in psychology and mental health, where it refers to repeated exposure to feared or avoided stimuli as part of exposure-based therapy. The goal is to promote habituation and extinction of conditioned fear, reducing avoidance and anxiety over time. Reexponering is typically implemented in a graded, therapist-guided sequence, either in real life (in vivo) or through guided imagery (imaginal exposure), and may be combined with cognitive strategies.

In clinical practice, reexponering is often applied to anxiety disorders such as phobias, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The process emphasizes patient safety, gradual exposure, and monitoring of distress levels, with adjustments made based on individual response and tolerance. While effective for many, reexponering can provoke temporary distress and requires careful supervision to avoid adverse or counterproductive outcomes.

Beyond psychology, the term can also appear in photography or imaging, where additional exposures are taken to adjust brightness, dynamic range, or to create multiple-exposure or high dynamic range effects. In medical imaging and radiology, deliberate reexposure to radiation is generally avoided or tightly controlled to minimize cumulative dose and associated risks, unless diagnostic or therapeutic benefits justify the exposure.

See also: exposure therapy, habituation, memory reconsolidation, HDR photography, radiation dose management.