Online Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy from just $35/session with licensed therapists (PhD, PsyD, LCSW, LMHC, LMFT) trained in this gold-standard PTSD treatment. At Grouport, we offer online individual therapy, online group therapy, couples therapy, family therapy, teen therapy, and virtual IOP options. PE is recommended as a first-line treatment for PTSD by every major clinical guideline: the APA, VA/DoD, NICE, and ISTSS.
Developed by Dr. Edna Foa, Prolonged Exposure helps you gradually and safely confront the trauma memories and situations you have been avoiding. Avoidance keeps PTSD alive; PE breaks the cycle by helping your brain process what happened so the memories lose their power over you. With over 50 randomized controlled trials, PE has been shown to produce large treatment effects, with the average person treated faring better than 86% of those in control conditions.
Consistently Recognized as the #1 Online Therapy pick
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At Grouport, we offer multiple ways to access trauma-focused therapy including Prolonged Exposure, all led by licensed clinicians. Whether you prefer individual sessions for focused trauma processing, group therapy for shared support and healing, couples or family formats, teen therapy, or a higher-intensity IOP program, our PE-informed offerings are designed to help you process your trauma and reclaim your life.
Our online Prolonged Exposure therapy is designed to help you process your trauma and reduce PTSD symptoms through a structured, evidence-based approach. Here is how to get started.
Whether you're interested in group therapy, individual sessions, couples or family therapy, or IOP, you'll start by selecting the type of support that fits your needs. Complete our onboarding form and sign up directly for the plan that suits you best.
After signing up, you'll connect with a dedicated care coordinator who will walk you through available therapists, group options, and scheduling. You'll make the final choice about your care based on your goals, preferences, and schedule.
Start your recovery. Your therapist will guide you through PE's structured protocol: psychoeducation, breathing, in vivo exposure, and imaginal exposure to process your trauma memory. Our team will support you every step of the way.
Whether you want individual PE sessions, group therapy for trauma support, a combination of both, or our IOP program for more intensive care, you will start by selecting the format that fits your needs and schedule. Complete our onboarding form and sign up directly.
After signing up, you will connect with a dedicated care coordinator who will discuss your challenges, goals, and where you are in the change process. They will match you with a therapist trained in PE and trauma-focused approaches and walk you through your options. You will make the final choice about your care, including which therapists you will meet with and session times.
Start your recovery. Your therapist will guide you through PE's structured protocol: psychoeducation about trauma, breathing techniques, gradual in vivo exposure to avoided situations, and imaginal exposure to process your trauma memory. Most people begin to see significant improvement within the first several sessions. Our team will be here to support you at every step.
Prolonged Exposure (PE) was developed by Dr. Edna Foa at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1980s and is one of the most extensively researched treatments for PTSD. With over 50 randomized controlled trials, PE is recommended as a first-line treatment by the APA, VA/DoD, NICE, ISTSS, and the Australian Guidelines. A meta-analysis found PE produced a large effect size (g=1.08) compared to controls, with the average treated person doing better than 86% of those who did not receive PE.
Prolonged Exposure is based on Emotional Processing Theory, which explains that PTSD symptoms persist because trauma memories are stored in a fragmented, "unprocessed" way. Avoidance prevents the brain from properly filing these memories, keeping them vivid, intrusive, and emotionally charged. Prolonged Exposure breaks this cycle through two core components:
Your therapist also teaches breathing retraining as a coping tool and provides psychoeducation about how trauma affects the brain. Prolonged Exposure has been shown to be equally effective across all trauma types, including sexual assault, combat, childhood abuse, accidents, and natural disasters. It works well alone or in combination with medication, and it integrates with other approaches like CBT and EMDR.
PTSD shrinks your world through avoidance. Prolonged Exposure expands it by helping you safely re-engage with the life you have been missing.
The trauma memories that keep replaying, the nightmares that disrupt your sleep, the flashbacks triggered by everyday sights, sounds, or smells: Prolonged Exposure directly targets these symptoms. By processing the memory in a safe, controlled way, your brain learns to store it like any other memory, so it stops intruding on your present life.
After trauma, many people stop driving, avoid crowded places, stop going out at night, or withdraw from social activities. These avoidance behaviors feel protective but actually maintain PTSD. Through in vivo exposure, you gradually reclaim these parts of your life, rebuilding confidence one step at a time.
Sleep disruption is one of the most debilitating PTSD symptoms. Nightmares, hypervigilance, and fear of sleeping keep you exhausted and on edge. As PE helps your brain process the trauma, sleep quality typically improves significantly, often within the first several sessions.
PTSD keeps your nervous system on high alert: always scanning for danger, startling easily, feeling tense and irritable. Prolonged Exposure helps your brain learn that the trauma is over and you are safe now. As treatment progresses, the constant state of hyperarousal begins to ease, and you can relax in ways you may not have been able to since the trauma.
PTSD often creates emotional numbing and withdrawal from relationships. You may feel detached from loved ones, unable to experience positive emotions, or like no one can understand what you went through. As Prolonged Exposure reduces your PTSD symptoms, your capacity for connection, intimacy, and joy naturally returns.
PTSD rarely travels alone. Depression and anxiety are among the most common co-occurring conditions. Research shows that Prolonged Exposure produces high-strength evidence for reducing both PTSD and depression symptoms. As trauma is processed, the hopelessness, guilt, and anxiety that accompany PTSD often lift as well.
Prolonged Exposure therapy follows a structured protocol with distinct phases. Here is what each phase involves.
Your therapist explains how PTSD works, why avoidance maintains your symptoms, and how Prolonged Exposure will help. You learn about the two types of exposure you will do (imaginal and in vivo) and practice breathing retraining as a tool for managing everyday stress. This phase helps you understand what to expect so you feel prepared and in control.
Together, you and your therapist create a hierarchy of situations you have been avoiding (driving, going to certain places, being in crowds). Between sessions, you gradually practice approaching these situations, starting with the least anxiety-provoking and working your way up. Each successful exposure builds confidence and weakens the connection between the situation and fear.
With eyes closed, you describe the trauma memory aloud in present tense while your therapist guides you. This is recorded so you can listen between sessions. The memory is revisited across multiple sessions, and each time it becomes less distressing. This is the core of PE: helping your brain process the memory so it no longer triggers the intense emotional and physical reactions it once did.
After each imaginal exposure, you and your therapist discuss what came up: the emotions, the thoughts, and the meanings attached to the memory. Over time, unhelpful beliefs like "it was my fault" or "nowhere is safe" naturally shift as you process the memory more fully. By the final sessions, most people report that the memory, while still sad, no longer carries the same emotional charge.
See how our therapy options have helped our members experience life-changing results
Stephanie
“Grouport is time flexible and affordable and if it didn’t exist, I don’t know where I would go. I had looked into other places before Grouport and there really wasn’t any option like it.”
Michael
“I highly recommend this to anyone who is struggling with anxiety or depression. The therapists are top notch and have made me feel really comfortable and my anxiety has improved tremendously in only a few sessions!”
Isabel
"I joined Grouport to work on myself and to heal. I’m learning so much at every session! The change I see not only in myself but in my fellow group members is abundantly encouraging and profoundly fulfilling. Group therapy with Grouport is a powerful healing tool."
Sheldon
“I was feeling very down at the end of 2020 and I was ready to do something drastic that I know I'd likely regret. The group definitely helped show me that there are people who feel the same way as I do.”
Nancy
“The therapy from Grouport is high quality and convenient. I am becoming much more self aware and am liking myself more. My relationships at work are better and I’m much happier.”
Emily
“I like the connection you can make with total strangers and the confidentiality it comes with.”
Danielle
"Grouport can help you with your issues. Their therapists are well trained to work with you on your issues. I felt my anxiety greatly improve after only a few sessions. I highly recommend it!"
Glenn
"Grouport's approach to DBT is a real strength. This approach provides tools and methods for working with difficult emotions and getting a handle on them. It has given me hope where other approaches have failed."
Prolonged Exposure has been studied and proven effective across virtually every type of traumatic experience. Effect sizes are not moderated by trauma type, meaning Prolonged Exposure works regardless of what you went through.
PE was originally developed and tested with survivors of sexual assault. Multiple RCTs have demonstrated its superiority over waitlist, supportive counseling, and its equivalence with other trauma-focused treatments for sexual assault-related PTSD. PE has also been shown to be effective for childhood sexual abuse, with gains maintained up to 12 months after treatment.
PE is one of two PTSD treatments most strongly recommended by the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines. RCTs with combat veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam have shown PE produces significant PTSD symptom reduction. A large trial of 916 veterans found PE and CPT were both effective. Massed PE (daily sessions over 2 to 3 weeks) has also proven effective for veterans.
Whether you survived a car accident, physical assault, robbery, shooting, or natural disaster, PE is effective. RCTs have demonstrated its efficacy for motor vehicle accident survivors, victims of interpersonal violence, and survivors of terrorism and mass violence. The structured approach of PE makes it adaptable to any single-incident or multiple-incident trauma.
While some clinicians have expressed concern about using PE with complex or childhood trauma, research consistently shows PE is effective for survivors of multiple traumatic events, including those with histories of childhood abuse and neglect. A 2024 meta-analysis found that trauma-focused therapies including PE are highly effective even for patients with a history of multiple traumatic events.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found high-strength evidence that PE reduces both PTSD symptoms and depression symptoms. As trauma is processed and avoidance decreases, the hopelessness, guilt, shame, and withdrawal that characterize post-trauma depression often improve significantly without the need for a separate depression-focused intervention.
When a loss is sudden, violent, or traumatic, grief can become entangled with PTSD symptoms: intrusive images of how the person died, avoidance of reminders, guilt about what you could have done differently. Prolonged Exposure therapy helps you process the traumatic aspects of the loss so you can grieve naturally and begin to remember the person you lost without being overwhelmed by the circumstances of their death.
Every Grouport therapist is a licensed, accredited mental health professional with specialized training in Prolonged Exposure and trauma-focused therapy with extensive clinical experience in PTSD recovery.
Our therapists typically have over a decade of clinical experience across diverse settings, with specialized expertise in PE, trauma-focused, and exposure-based approaches, as well as PTSD, complex trauma, anxiety, and depression. Our therapists are trained in PE and other proven modalities to provide the best fit for your needs.
We continually evaluate outcomes through internal studies and outcomes studies with researchers from leading universities such as Carnegie Mellon, University of Essex, and University of Cologne.
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a healthier future starts right here
80%of our members start with moderate to severe mental health symptoms
70% of our members feel significantly better within just 8 weeks
50% of our members achieve remission levels within just 8 weeks
80%
of our members start with moderate to severe mental health symptoms
70%
of our members feel significantly better within just 8 weeks
50%
of our members achieve remission levels within just 8 weeks
Group, individual, couples, family, IOP, and teen therapy — all online, all therapist-led. Mix and match care options to fit your needs — and get discounted pricing when you bundle.
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Prolonged Exposure was developed specifically for PTSD, and our licensed therapists are trained to deliver trauma-focused care for all of these conditions and more. Many members combine PE with other evidence-based approaches to address co-occurring concerns through our flexible therapy options.
Prolonged Exposure (PE) is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy developed by Dr. Edna Foa specifically for the treatment of PTSD. PE helps you gradually confront the trauma memories and real-world situations you have been avoiding through two core techniques: imaginal exposure (revisiting the memory in a safe, guided way) and in vivo exposure (gradually approaching avoided situations). With over 50 RCTs, PE is recommended as a first-line PTSD treatment by the APA, VA/DoD, NICE, and ISTSS.
PE is specifically designed for PTSD and has been proven effective across all trauma types: sexual assault, combat, childhood abuse, accidents, violence, natural disasters, and terrorism. PE also produces high-strength evidence for reducing co-occurring depression symptoms. It works for single-event trauma, multiple traumas, and complex PTSD.
Yes. Our therapists are licensed mental health professionals (PhD, PsyD, LCSW, LMHC, LMFT) with training in Prolonged Exposure and trauma-focused approaches for PTSD, complex trauma, anxiety, depression, and co-occurring conditions.
PE is specifically designed for PTSD and includes imaginal exposure to trauma memories, which is unique to trauma-focused treatment. General exposure therapy for phobias and anxiety uses in vivo exposure to feared objects or situations but does not involve processing traumatic memories. ERP is specific to OCD. PE specifically targets the avoidance that maintains PTSD, including both behavioral avoidance and avoidance of trauma-related thoughts and memories.
The length of Prolonged Exposure therapy varies based on individual needs. Many people see significant improvement within 8 to 12 sessions, with some benefiting from additional sessions. At Grouport, 70% of our members feel significantly better within just 8 weeks. Your therapist will work with you to determine the right pace and duration for your recovery.
Yes. Research supports telehealth delivery of PE, and many veterans and civilians have successfully completed PE via video. The structured nature of PE adapts well to online formats. All Grouport sessions are held via secure, HIPAA-compliant video chat.
Group Therapy averages $32/session. Individual Therapy averages $103/session. Couples Therapy averages $114/session. Family Therapy averages $148/session. IOP is $311/week. Teen Therapy averages $103/session. Payment options include Monthly, Quarterly (Save 10%), and Biannually (Save 15%).
Grouport provides online group therapy, individual therapy, couples therapy, family therapy, teen therapy, intensive outpatient program (IOP), and a DBT self-guided program. Many members combine multiple therapy types for comprehensive support.
Our therapy outcomes are backed by outcomes studies with researchers from leading universities such as Carnegie Mellon, University of Essex, and University of Cologne. 80% of our members start therapy with moderate to severe symptoms. Within just 8 weeks, 70% of members see clinically significant reduction in anxiety and depression, and 50% achieve remission levels.
You can cancel anytime, and your membership will remain active until the end of your current billing period. Email support@grouporttherapy.com and we will send you a quick cancellation form to fill out.
Grouport is available worldwide for everyone. All sessions are held virtually over video chat. We offer separate therapy groups for Adults (18+) and Teens and Adolescents (under 18).
Yes. After signing up, a care coordinator will reach out to understand your needs and match you with the right therapist and schedule. You can switch therapists anytime.
It is normal to feel a temporary increase in distress during the first few sessions of imaginal exposure as you confront memories you have been avoiding. However, this is a sign the treatment is working. Research consistently shows that distress decreases steadily across sessions, and dropout rates for PE are comparable to other PTSD treatments. Your therapist will guide you through the process at a pace you can manage.
Both PE and EMDR are first-line, trauma-focused treatments for PTSD with comparable outcomes. PE uses repeated verbal retelling of the trauma memory combined with in vivo exposure homework. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements) while briefly focusing on the trauma memory. Prolonged Exposure includes between-session homework such as listening to session recordings and practicing in vivo exposures; EMDR typically does not include homework. The best choice depends on personal preference.
Both PE and CPT are first-line PTSD treatments with strong evidence. PE focuses primarily on exposure: revisiting the trauma memory and approaching avoided situations. CPT focuses primarily on cognition: identifying and challenging unhelpful beliefs about the trauma (such as self-blame or beliefs that the world is entirely dangerous). A large RCT of 916 veterans found both equally effective. The choice often depends on whether avoidance or distorted beliefs are the primary maintaining factor.
Yes. While PE was originally tested with single-event trauma, research has consistently shown it is effective for people with histories of multiple traumatic events, including childhood abuse and complex PTSD. A 2024 meta-analysis confirmed that trauma-focused therapies are highly effective for patients with multiple trauma histories.
Yes. PE has been adapted for adolescents (PE-A), with RCTs showing it is effective for teens with PTSD from sexual abuse, violence, and other traumatic experiences. At Grouport, we offer separate therapy groups for Adults (18+) and Teens and Adolescents (under 18) to ensure age-appropriate support.
Whether you are struggling with PTSD from sexual assault, combat, an accident, or any other traumatic experience, Prolonged Exposure can help you process the trauma and reclaim your life. With licensed therapists, structured support, and flexible online formats, Grouport makes it easy to get started. Take the first step toward recovery today.
