A question gets asked, an answer gets given, and some anxiety goes down, that could be ERP or it could be the compulsion ERP is meant to interrupt. ERP vs reassurance is one of the trickiest lines to see from the inside, because both look identical in the moment. Here's the actual test: not what's being asked, but why, and what happens the fifth time you ask it.

You ask, someone answers, and the relief lasts a few minutes before the doubt creeps back, louder each time. Reassurance seeking looks like communication, but functionally it's a compulsion, the same category as checking a lock or washing your hands raw. Here's why answers stop working the more you need them, why it strains relationships, and what treatment that actually addresses the pattern looks like.