Narrative Exposure Therapy
(NET)
Narrative Exposure Therapy
What is Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET)?
Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is an empirically supported, short-term approach (usually between 8-20 sessions) that addresses the symptoms of trauma for survivors of singular, multiple, and/or complex trauma. Trauma can often make people feel stuck in their past experiences and make them feel anxious, depressed, shut down, and change how they relate to people in their lives. NET focuses on reconstructing fragmented memories of traumatic experiences into coherent narrations in order to address the neuropsychological effects of trauma on memory and the body.
How does NET work?
The client begins NET by constructing a timeline of their most important life events (both traumatic and positive). The therapist then “exposes” and accompanies the client through these memories, gathering sensory and somatic (body) information, and constructing a narrative of what happened. Through this approach, clients benefit from contextualizing their trauma experiences in a holistic narrative that allows them to process emotions related to the trauma. The goal of NET is to help the client organize and connect fully to the emotional and physiological experience of the trauma while staying grounded in the “here and now.”
What makes NET unique?
After each exposure, the therapist writes out the memory as experienced in the session. The client is then able to clarify or reprocess the memory again to address any uncertainties. Upon completion, the client is left with a written autobiographical account of their life story which can be used for future personal processing, to share with people they love, or even in formal, legal, or asylum cases. NET is unique because it functions as both a form of therapy and advocacy.
Counselors you may want to check out…