Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET)

Narrative exposure therapy (NET) is evidence-based, a short treatment designed for multiply traumatized survivors. It relies on testimonial psychotherapy, where a patient, together with help of a clinician, chronologically tells a life event with a focus on the trauma. During sessions, patients are required to explain the traumatic event in detail (specifying emotions, sensory information, psychological responses) and encouraged to relive the trauma. Storytelling allows the sufferer to relive not one, but several traumatic events that occurred in their life (if existent). NET allows processing of painful emotions, which leads to significant emotional recovery. KIDNET is designed for treatment of children; it follows the same principles and
procedures as that of adults; however it is expanded with child-friendly elements – flowers and stones are placed on a lifeline (represented by a rope), each of the elements represents positive and negative life events respectively. The exercises which involve playful elements are especially important for the first NET sessions with a child. It helps to ‘break the ice’ quickly and employs creative media, which allows the child’s life story to unfold in a playful manner. Following detailed psychoanalysis, the child is then submitted to 8-session treatment and a follow-up examination three months after treatment (Schauer et al, 2011, Landolt and Hensel, 2012).