Narrative exposure therapy and KIDNET

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Maggie Schauer, Frank Neuner, Thomas Elbert · University of Konstanz

What it is

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is a short-term, individual, exposure-based treatment for trauma-spectrum disorders in people who have lived through multiple or prolonged traumatic events, such as organised violence, torture, war, sexual violence and childhood abuse. It was developed by Maggie…

Format

• NET is delivered in a fixed sequence. The manual's own chapter structure is: first session (diagnosis and psychoeducation), second session (lifeline), third session (start of narration), following sessions (continued narration), last session, post-treatment diagnostic sessions, with KIDNET as an…
• Dose and format. Individual sessions, usually 90–120 minutes. Reported totals vary by version and population: 3–6 sessions in the manual's own summary of field and controlled trials; 4–6 sessions of 90–120 minutes in the FORNET paper; 4–14 sessions of about 90 minutes, adjusted to setting, in…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• How change happens, as the authors describe it: traumatic experience is stored abnormally. Sensory, emotional and bodily ('hot') memory elements become detached from the autobiographical ('cold') facts of when and where they happened, so fragments intrude and trigger a 'fear network' as if the danger were present. Rather than suppress the network, NET has the person narrate their whole life in chronological order,…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Dose and format. Individual sessions, usually 90–120 minutes. Reported totals vary by version and population: 3–6 sessions in the manual's own summary of field and controlled trials; 4–6 sessions of 90–120 minutes in the FORNET paper; 4–14 sessions of about 90 minutes, adjusted to setting, in…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Your own wording creeping in; read-back will expose it.
• Symptom reduction often continues after treatment ends.
• Self-blame that persists after exposure; note it for the shame/guilt guidance in section 5.
• Rushing through childhood to 'get to the important part'; whole-life coverage is a core principle.
• Mourning when the full story is heard; leave time. Pride in the document is a common and welcome reaction.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.