Summary description: Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) for children, adolescents, and adults is an evidence-based, culturally inclusive, trauma-focused, short-term psychotherapeutic intervention that was designed for survivors of multiple and complex trauma. Within a life-span approach, it enables the integration of traumatic memories into the biographical context, activates the person's resources, and allows meaning-making and corrective relationship experiences.
Access to the intervention manual: Buy it here https://www.hogrefe.com/de/shop/narrative-exposure-therapy-net-for-survivors-of-traumatic-stress-98099.html
Access to training: Contact the NET Institute https://www.net-institute.org/
Intended users/ Implementers: Trained and supervised non-specialist provider
Therapeutic strategies: Personal interview about traumatic events and childhood experience, chonological construction of the "Lifeline", Narrative Exposure (telling of the life story), contextualization of the trauma memory, meaning making
Intervention format: 6-12 individual sessions
Target population: Indiviudals with trauma related disorders (PTSD)
Significant effects found on symptoms of: the trauma spectrum
Key innovative or differentiating features of this intervention: The NET approach is distinct from other trauma focused treatments in its explicit focus on recognizing and creating a narrative of what happened, restoring the individual’s sense of autobiography, self-identify and self-esteem, together with the acknowledgement of the human rights abuses that have occurred.
Summary of Evidence: >30 fully powered RCTs reveal large effects of NET. Siehl, Robjant & Crombach (2019) provide an overview on effects across populations.
Different populations where the intervention has been used: Refugees / migrants, torture survivors, LMIC, post-conflict, gang members, ex-combatants, soldiers, survivors of gender based violence, individuals with diagnosis for borderline personality disorder, complex trauma, dissociative identity disorder, psychotic symptoms, other severe mental illness, pregnant woman, children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, elderly adults, individuals in insecure living conditions and ongoing violence, children and adolescents, gender diverse and intersectional groups / LGBTQ+, indiviudals with intellectual disabilities, homeless persons or vulnerably housed
Restrictions or requirements for its use: Acute psychotic episode (pre-medication), other severe neurological disease, acute intoxication (example: substance abuse), acute suicidal ideation, acute danger to others
Requirements / qualifications for trainers and supervisors: The trainer and supervisor is not currently suffering from PTSD symptoms or other manifest mental health disorders
Examples of implementation outside of RCT contexts: KIDNET for children, FORNET for traumatized offenders, ElderNET for seniors, NETfacts for communities, high-NET for inpatient care, NET-PC for primary care, amongst others.
Information provided by Maggie Schauer on 5 October 2024. She is author if the intervention.