Guides
Four days of intensive ERP. Then what.
New Zealand has been running the Bergen 4-Day Treatment for OCD: four consecutive days of concentrated exposure and response prevention, brought here by the charity Open Closed Doors with clinicians trained in the Norwegian model. Early NZ results have made the news. This page is a plain read of what that programme is, what it is not, and where the ordinary days sit around it.
Maybe is not that intensive. It is structured practice for sticky thoughts and checking loops in the hours when a four-day programme is not running: waitlists, the weeks after, and the 3am spiral that does not wait for a clinic. Nothing here is a diagnosis, therapy, or a crisis service.
What the Bergen 4-Day Treatment is
Bergen 4-Day Treatment (B4DT) is an intensive form of exposure and response prevention (ERP). ERP is the first-line approach in published clinical guidance for obsessive-compulsive disorder (NICE CG31): face a trigger on purpose, in a chosen way, and do not do the settling move afterwards (checking, asking, googling, replaying).
The intensive packs that work into four consecutive days, with a high therapist-to-patient ratio, so people get enough continuous practice to interrupt the loop rather than forty-five minutes once a week. NZ pilots have included young adults in Auckland and teenagers in Christchurch, with local clinicians training alongside the Bergen team so the model can sit in the public system rather than only as a charity-funded slot.
Reported early NZ figures (as of late October 2026, still heading toward peer-reviewed publication) have been in the same ballpark as international Bergen data: most participants showing meaningful symptom reduction, with a substantial share in remission at three months in a severe sample. Treat those numbers as early and local, not as a guarantee for any one person.
A 2026 trial in Germany compared Bergen 4-day treatment with an unguided online CBT course in 119 adults. At three months, 61% of those assessed in the Bergen group had responded (their symptom score fell by at least 35%), against 25% in the online group. Read it with care: it ran at one clinic, follow-up was three months, fewer than half of the people screened (47%) took part, and it wasn't compared with weekly ERP with a therapist. Several of the authors also run BergenNet, a non-profit that promotes the treatment.
For the programme itself, start at ocdhope.org and the recent RNZ coverage.
What it isn’t
It is not a cure stamped on day four. Remission and reduction are outcomes some people reach and maintain; they are not a promise, and OCD can return. Having a plan for when it comes back is part of serious treatment, not a failure of it.
It is not the only valid form of ERP. Weekly ERP with a trained clinician remains the everyday gold standard many people use. An intensive is a format: more hours, tighter, not a different disease.
It is not widely available yet. Demand in NZ has outstripped funded places. Families have previously paid large sums to go overseas. Public rollout is the stated goal; it is not already on every waiting list.
It is not a substitute for emergency care. If tonight is dangerous, use real humans on a crisis line. Maybe’s safety page lists them.
The days before and after
Four concentrated days can break a stuck pattern. They do not erase the need for practice on ordinary Tuesdays.
Before an intensive (or while you wait for one): the same skills matter in small doses. A graded ladder. Not answering the doubt. Naming the compulsion you will skip. Our guide ERP, explained from scratch covers the two halves of the name; practising ERP on your own walks a paper version with no app required.
After an intensive: the hard part is often keeping the line when the therapist is not beside you. The urge to check, ask, or replay still shows up in hallways and at bedtime. That is where day-to-day practice lives, whether you use a clinician, a workbook, or a structured coach.
If you never get a four-day slot, you are not locked out of ERP. Access is the bottleneck, not your eligibility for the underlying practice.
Where Maybe fits
Maybe is a private coach for OCD, sticky thoughts, and checking loops. Short lessons, a ladder you set, and chat that will not settle the question for you. Everything you write is encrypted on your device before it is sent; we do not hold the key.
Use it for:
- the wait for a clinician or an intensive place
- the hours between sessions, including overnight
- keeping ERP reps going after a concentrated block, when the clinic week is over
Do not use it as:
- a replacement for a Bergen programme or for a therapist trained in ERP
- a diagnosis, a score, or proof you are “better”
- crisis support
How Maybe works is the product walk-through. Evidence is honest about what is proven for ERP and what is not yet proven for this app.
Further reading
Not therapy. Not a crisis service. Built for the hours between the intensive and the ordinary week.