we recommend that live exposure (also called in vivo exposure ) be used rather than imag -
ined exposure. Although both approaches can lead to a reduction of fear, live exposure 
has two big advantages. First, some people have difﬁculty imagining feared situations in 
a way that actually arouses their fear; and, second, there is evidence that live exposure 
is more effective at reducing fear (Emmelkamp and Wessels 1975).
Nevertheless, under certain circumstances, imagined exposure may be helpful. If 
you are too fearful to enter a situation in real life, you can use imagined exposure as a 
stepping-stone to the real situation. For example, if you are planning to ask someone out 
on a date, you might consider using an imagined exposure to the situation at ﬁrst. Once 
you have become more comfortable imagining the situation, trying the real thing might 
become easier. Also, imagined exposure can be helpful when the situation is impracti -
cal or impossible to practice in real life. For example, if you must give a presentation 
to a group of 200 people, you may not be able to practice it in front of a large group. 
Instead, imagining a large group in your mind’s eye might be a good way to practice for 
the actual presentation when you are preparing your talk.