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Map the PTSD cycle
We identify trauma reminders, intrusive symptoms, emotions, body sensations, avoided situations, safety behaviors, and the parts of life PTSD has restricted.
PTSD therapy in California
PTSD Therapy for Adults in California
Prolonged Exposure is one of several recommended trauma-focused treatments for PTSD. Other options include Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Assessment, preferences, and availability help guide treatment selection. Read the VA’s overview of psychotherapy for PTSD.
Post-traumatic stress disorder can make the past feel present. You may avoid reminders, feel on edge, replay what happened, feel numb, or organize your life around preventing another threat.
Matthew Baker, LCSW · California license #121926
Owner of Whatif Therapy, specializing in ERP for OCD, exposure-based therapy for anxiety, and Prolonged Exposure for adult PTSD. Based in Lakewood; secure telehealth throughout California. About Matthew and his training.
Whatif Therapy offers online PTSD treatment for adults in California. Matthew Baker, LCSW uses Prolonged Exposure when it fits the assessment, treatment goals, and safety needs. Care addresses trauma memories and avoidance rather than treating PTSD as a form of OCD.
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PTSD TherapyFocused trauma treatment
PE TherapyStructured exposure-based care
TelehealthAvailable across California
The goal is not to erase the trauma. The goal is to help your brain and body learn that the trauma is over, so reminders no longer control your life.
What PTSD can look like
PTSD is not only about memories. It can change how you move through daily life.
PTSD often involves a cycle of intrusive trauma reminders, emotional distress, physical alarm, and avoidance. Avoidance may work in the short term because it lowers distress quickly. Over time, it can make life smaller and keep the trauma system active.
Treatment focuses on helping you approach what PTSD has taught you to avoid, while building a more flexible relationship with memories, emotions, body sensations, and trauma reminders.
Common PTSD symptoms
- Intrusive memories, nightmares, or flashbacks
- Avoidance of people, places, conversations, emotions, or reminders
- Feeling constantly on guard, tense, startled, or unsafe
- Guilt, shame, anger, numbness, or disconnection
- Sleep problems, concentration issues, irritability, or panic-like body reactions
Treatment approach
PTSD treatment should be structured, active, and clear.
At Whatif Therapy, PTSD treatment is not open-ended guessing. The work focuses on understanding the trauma cycle, identifying avoidance, and using evidence-based strategies to help your nervous system relearn that reminders are not the same as current danger.
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Build a treatment plan
Treatment may include education, breathing retraining, in vivo exposure, imaginal exposure, between-session practice, and review of new learning.
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Reduce avoidance
You gradually approach memories, places, conversations, sensations, and reminders that PTSD has labeled as dangerous or intolerable.
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Rebuild daily life
The goal is to help you return to meaningful parts of life without needing to organize everything around trauma reminders.
Prolonged Exposure
Prolonged Exposure therapy directly targets PTSD avoidance.
Prolonged Exposure, often called PE, is a structured trauma-focused therapy for PTSD. It helps people gradually approach trauma memories and avoided situations in a planned way, so fear and avoidance can decrease over time.
- In vivo exposure: approaching real-life situations that have been avoided because of trauma-related fear.
- Imaginal exposure: revisiting the trauma memory in a structured way during session.
- Processing: reviewing what you noticed, what changed, and what your brain is learning.
- Practice: completing between-session work so new learning carries into daily life.
Who this may help
PTSD therapy may be useful when trauma is still shaping your choices.
You do not need to have every PTSD symptom to benefit from trauma-focused care. The key issue is whether trauma reminders, fear, shame, or avoidance are limiting your life.
You avoid reminders
You avoid places, people, media, smells, sounds, conversations, body sensations, or emotions connected to what happened.
You feel stuck on alert
Your body may react as if danger is present, even when part of you knows the threat is not happening now.
You want direct treatment
You want therapy that is structured, active, and focused on changing the PTSD cycle instead of only describing it.
About the practice
PTSD therapy through Whatif Therapy
Matthew Baker, LCSW provides secure telehealth therapy across California for PTSD, OCD, and anxiety-related concerns. Treatment is structured, collaborative, and focused on helping clients reduce avoidance and move toward meaningful life changes.
Start with a consultation
Online PTSD therapy across California
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to discuss symptoms, goals, fit, and whether Prolonged Exposure therapy may be appropriate.
Trauma memory processing in Prolonged Exposure
PE includes imaginal exposure: revisiting and recounting a trauma memory with your therapist, followed by discussion and processing of the associated thoughts and emotions. In vivo exposure involves approaching safe situations avoided because they are trauma reminders. Repeated practice supports new learning about the memory and reminders.
ERP for OCD pairs exposure to obsession triggers with prevention of compulsions. PE for PTSD instead focuses on trauma memories, emotional processing, and trauma-related avoidance. If both conditions are present, assessment guides how the two treatment needs are addressed.
PTSD care at Whatif Therapy is for adults only. Therapy appointments are 53-minute sessions; your clinician discusses fit, structure, and any need for a different service. Read the VA explanation of PE, review fees and insurance, or ask about starting care.
FAQ
Common questions about PTSD therapy
What is PTSD?
PTSD is a trauma-related condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. It may involve intrusive memories, nightmares, avoidance, emotional numbness, hypervigilance, sleep problems, guilt, shame, or feeling constantly on edge.
What is Prolonged Exposure therapy?
Prolonged Exposure therapy is a structured treatment for PTSD. It helps people gradually approach trauma memories and avoided situations so the brain can relearn that reminders are not the same as current danger.
Is PTSD therapy just talking about what happened?
No. PTSD therapy can include discussion. But Prolonged Exposure is more structured. It includes education, planning, exposure practice, between-session exercises, and review of what your brain and body are learning.
Will I have to talk about trauma before I am ready?
Treatment should begin with assessment, education, and planning. Prolonged Exposure is active. But it should also be collaborative. The goal is not to force disclosure. The goal is to build a clear treatment plan that you can engage in.
Can PTSD therapy be done online?
Yes. PTSD therapy, including Prolonged Exposure, can be provided through secure telehealth when clinically appropriate. Sessions can include in-session work and between-session practice in real life settings.
How do I know if Prolonged Exposure is right for me?
A consultation and clinical assessment can help determine whether PE fits your symptoms, readiness, safety needs, and treatment goals. If PE is not the best fit, another treatment approach may be recommended.
Do you treat PTSD and OCD?
Yes. Whatif Therapy provides treatment for PTSD, OCD, and anxiety-related concerns. PTSD treatment may involve Prolonged Exposure, while OCD treatment often involves Exposure and Response Prevention.
Whatif Therapy
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Serving clients throughout California through secure online therapy.
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Ask questions about treatment fit, availability, fees, and secure telehealth anywhere in California.
