“The more I think about my life, the worse I feel.” Countless people who have experienced trauma agree with that statement. Does it apply to your life?
When a person ruminates on a traumatic event, all of life seems negative. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) offers a way to clear perception and reduce misery.
Principles of Narrative Exposure Therapy
Everyone has a personal view of reality.
The situation is the problem, not the person.
People are experts on their own lives and can author their life stories.
People assign meaning to their stories based on values developed in their environment.
The story impacts the way people view life now.
Problems need not control life
Meaningful moments co-exist with bad experiences (Web MD, 2023).
The Method
During NET sessions, the therapist listens to a client’s spoken chronological life story that includes trauma memories and positive experiences. Telling and re-telling the story alters neurological connections in the brain by linking thoughts, emotions, and sensory experiences together differently. Fragments of memory combine to create a cohesive story.
The client describes, in detail, the emotions, thoughts, senses, and bodily responses associated with the trauma. In a sense, the client re-lives the experience. The therapist uses specific types of questions and comments during the session to keep the client in the present while remembering the past (WebMD, 2023).
Theory of Change
The brain pairs emotions that were evoked by the trauma with the specific time and place of the event.
This pairing allows the client to live in the present moment without constantly battling overwhelming symptoms of the trauma.
Over time, the client thinks about and discusses the traumatic event with the therapist.
As a result of this interaction and ongoing changes in the brain, the person spends less time ruminating on the past.
New thoughts, perspectives, and insights eventually replace the old negative meanings that once were attached to the memory (WebMD, 2023).
At the end of treatment, the therapist creates a written or recorded version of the story to present to the client. This document validates the client’s suffering and reminds the client to celebrate change.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou
Meet The Author
PAM WAGNER
LMSW, LPC, CTS-1
Meet The Author
Pam is a Clinical Therapist at Sea Glass Mental Health. She works with adults, couples, and families. Pam specializes in female childhood trauma, chronic pain, PTSD, and EMDR.
