The Purpose of Reliving Trauma: How Exposure Therapy Helps PTSD

Taylor Shaw
Published: 09/24/2025 | Updated: 01/12/2026
Authored by: Taylor Shaw, B.S.
Edited by: Rey-Phillip Genaldo, LMFT
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Medically Reviewed by:
Eric Schlothan

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) does not only reside in the past—it loops. It plays itself over in the mind, in the body, in the nervous system. Regardless of whether triggered by a traumatic event such as a car accident, rape, natural disaster, or childhood trauma, PTSD will take daily life and turn it into a minefield of flashbacks, anxiety, and avoidance.

At AMFM (A Mission for Michael)—with offices in California, Minnesota, and Virginia—our staff of mental health professionals assists individuals in rewiring trauma loops by employing evidence-based therapies such as exposure therapy. In this article, we’ll explain what exposure therapy does in real terms and how reliving trauma can help you or a loved one take that first step toward recovery.

Woman sitting at desk wondering, "Why would I want to relive traumatic memories in therapy?"

Why Do We Re-Experience Trauma?

PTSD symptoms cluster around re-experiencing—intrusive memory, traumatic flashbacks, nightmares that are too real. They aren’t “bad memories” as such. The trauma memories aren’t like that. They are typically broken up, compartmentalised in the body, out of time, and susceptible to “burst” back into awareness under triggers. This is because trauma impacts the nervous system. During a traumatic experience, the brain often shuts down normal processing to survive. It doesn’t file the memory away as “past.” Instead, it gets stuck in a perpetual present moment, waiting to be resolved.1 Enter trauma-based therapy—in particular, exposure therapy.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is a kind of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) that aims to get individuals to gradually confront and work through the memories, feelings, or experiences that they’ve been evading.2 Exposure therapy can be conducted in varying methods, depending upon symptoms as well as preferences of the client:

  • Imaginal exposure: Recreating in vivid detail, the trauma memory.
  • In vivo exposure: Systematic exposure to real-life situations that have been avoided (e.g., driving again after an accident).
  • Interoceptive exposure: Directly causing unpleasant physical feelings (e.g., racing heart) in a safe environment.
  • Virtual exposure: Exposure of individuals to distressing experiences using technology in a controlled setting.
 

We at AMFM utilize all of these as needed, yet always in a trauma-informed approach. The intention isn’t to retraumatize—it’s to revisit safely what occurred so that it does not continue to have such power.

The Role of "Reliving" the Abuse

What would drive someone to face the very memories they’ve spent years trying to bury? The answer lies in a neurological process called reconsolidation—the brain’s natural ability to revisit and reshape stored memories.3 When a memory is called up, there is a small window of time in which it can be reshaped by the brain before it is again stored. That’s critical in treating PTSD—because that not only means that you remember the trauma of it differently… you feel it differently.

Through revisiting of the trauma in a safe therapeutic environment:

  • You realize that it is safe now.
  • Your mind is able to relabel that memory as past, not now.
  • The nervous system prepares to turn off old trauma reactions.
  • Self-esteem recovers over time.
 

It’s not wallowing in the hurt. It’s processing it so it will no longer take over your life.

What Does It Feel like In Session?

All trauma is unique. But a sample exposure session might go such as this:

  • The client chooses a trauma memory that upsets but does not feel too overwhelming to work with.
  • A trauma therapist makes them recall the incident in great detail—what they heard, saw, smelled, felt.
  • Emotional and physiological responses are tracked. This provides both therapist and client with insight into where archived memory is generating activation.
  • Grounding techniques are offered by the therapist at every turn: breathing, safe-place imagery, with ‘it’s not happening now reminders’.
 

Over time, this same memory becomes less distressing. Clients may relate being “unfrozen” or “the memory is now only a memory. This isn’t about brute force. It’s about gentle reprocessing—done with care, pace, and skill.4

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Common Myth: “It'll Make Things Worse”

Most worry that exposure to trauma will leave them retraumatized or spiraling in symptoms. And while there may be a small amount of distress, exposure therapy isn’t retraumatizing when conducted correctly.5

Here’s the difference:

  • Retraumatization occurs when a person is triggered back into trauma without protection or agency.
  • Exposure therapy gives guidelines, pacing, and choices. You’re not thrown headfirst—you’re walked gently up to it, then encouraged to take a dip when good and ready.
 

At AMFM, time is never of essence. Clients are approached at their level of being, and the tempo is matched to mental health functioning, history, and ability.

How EMDR and Exposure Therapy Complement Each Other

Others will do better with EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which is a therapy that involves bilateral stimulation (most often eye movement) to induce processing of traumatic memory in the brain. EMDR does not involve talking out the whole memory as in imaginal exposure, but it induces reconsolidation in the brain.6 We also often utilize EMDR and exposure therapy in combination at AMFM. EMDR frees, for some, a memory that’s too great to discuss. Others, yet, will utilize CBT as a precursor to develop coping mechanisms, then try EMDR or in-vivo exposure at a later date.

What Exposure Therapy Can Treat

Exposure therapy is also, perhaps, most famous as post-traumatic stress disorder treatment, though it also works treating:

 

Since trauma manifests in so many different forms—acute versus slow-burning, physical versus mental—therapy in this field has great latitude.

Who Should Get Exposure Therapy?

You may be helped by trauma-based exposure therapy if:

 

  • You experienced a traumatic event (recently or in the past).
  • You’ve got PTSD symptoms: nightmares, avoidance, anger, dissociation, flashbacks.
  • You’re frozen up or disconnected from yourself, your body, your feelings, or other individuals.
  • You’re done being in fight-or-flight mode.
  • You’re willing (although afraid) to venture out of your comfort zone.
 

Even though you don’t feel “ready,” exposure therapy can build bit by bit. You don’t have to discuss your worst memory on the first day.

What If the Trauma Is from Childhood?

Childhood trauma—especially when chronic or relational—can complicate traditional exposure methods. Memories may be fragmented, disorganized, or tied to deep attachment injuries, making direct recall overwhelming or even inaccessible. In these cases, trauma therapists adapt their approach.7

Instead of beginning with a specific memory, we might focus on:

  • Recurring emotional themes or patterns
  • Somatic cues like tension, nausea, or dissociation
  • Present-day relationships that mirror past dynamics
 

This gives the nervous system space to stabilize before entering deeper work. At AMFM, we’re trained in complex trauma exposure. Recovery isn’t formulaic—it’s relational.

What to Expect at AMFM

Our trauma care includes:

  • Comprehensive intake questions: Gaining insight about your history of trauma, current mental illness, support, and symptoms.
  • Coverage of CBT, EMDR, trauma-based exposure therapy, and holistic interventions.
  • Care providers who are skilled in trauma-informed care and personality disorder–related cases.
  • Individual, group, and family decisions.
  • Locations in California, Minnesota, and Virginia with inpatient and outpatient care.
 

Your care matters to us—and treatment plans aren’t generic.

Reclaiming the Present

When trauma owns the past, it also commandeers the present moment. Exposure therapy assists in reclaiming that ownership.

  • In place of fear, there’s curiosity.
  • While there is hypervigilance, there is also awareness—not panic.
  • Not numbing, there is connection.
 

We don’t get over it by forgetting what happened. We get over it by accepting that it’s not happening now.

Ready to Start Healing at AMFM?

If you—or someone you care about—feels trapped in the aftershock of trauma, caught in flashbacks, avoiding reminders, struggling with sleep or self-worth, exposure therapy may offer a path forward. At AMFM, we walk beside you through the process with care, expertise, and deep respect for your lived experience. Our trauma therapists don’t force confrontation—they gently guide, using proven methods to help you reconnect with your inner strength. PTSD is treatable. Your past doesn’t have to define your future. Relief is real, and it starts with a single, honest conversation.

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National Institute of Mental Health, “Traumatic Events and Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” NIMH, accessed September 13, 2025, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd. National Institute of Mental Health

Markowitz, S., et al. “Exposure Therapy for Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Brain Sciences 10, no. 3 (2020). https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/10/3/167

Farrell, Keeley, and Quenby Mahood. Reconsolidation and Consolidation Therapies for the Treatment and Prevention of Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK595367/

Rubenstein, A. “To Expose or Not to Expose: A Comprehensive Review of Exposure‑Based Therapies for PTSD.” PubMed Central, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11034887/

McLean, Carmen P., Hannah C. Levy, Madeleine L. Miller, and David F. Tolin. “Exposure Therapy for PTSD: A Meta-Analysis.” Clinical Psychology Review 91 (2022): 102115. Published online December 21, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102115.

van Geusau, V. V. P. A., et al. “The Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Acceptability of EMDR vs Exposure Therapy in PTSD.” PubMed Central, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10665892/

Choi, Y., and colleagues. “Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma: Complex Trauma, Complex  Needs.” Australian Journal of General Practice 49, no. 7 (July 2020). https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2020/july/adult-survivors-of-childhood-trauma

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