Trauma Therapy

Prolonged Exposure (PE) is a structured treatment for recovering from traumatic experiences. It can be used for recent incidents, or from many years ago. This is effective for treating single events, or complex or chronic traumatic experiences.

Typical duration ranges from 6-13 sessions, which are 60-90 minutes each. It can also be worked into DBT treatment plan as well. PE is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that “re-files” the experiences of a particular trauma so that the individual gains mastery of residual feelings, thoughts, and behaviors related to managing such intense event or events. 

Care is taken in assessing one’s readiness for PE and incorporated into the treatment is practicing ways to manage emotional and physiological arousal. Information about trauma and how bodies/minds respond and any questions you may have about how this treatment will pertain to your specific situation will be discussed thoroughly, as this is a collaborative effort. 

Similar to DBT, PE is an evidence based treatment for trauma and is supported by the American Psychological Association best practices, and the National Institutes of Health.  Jessica received intensive training by Melanie Harned, PhD (who developed an effective integration of PE into DBT) and Elizabeth Dexter-Mazza, PsyD.