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Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is a psychotherapy created in Germany in the early 2000s. NET is supposed to be a culturally sensitive short-term psychotherapy versatile for implementation in difficult or precarious settings. It was developed with the focus to treat trauma-related mental disorders. The development of NET as a psychotherapy has been closely related with the non-profit vivo international e.V. and the University of Konstanz, where its founders established their professional careers. This particular circumstance allowed NET to be developed with a strong support from empirical research done in various contexts. As such, NET has also been translated into several languages (see some references here ), and studies have adapted NET in different parts of the world, particularly in Africa.

Origin
[to be added]

Lifeline
NET is conducted around the use of the lifeline, which serves as both a reference point for the therapist and the patient during the therapy. Different symbols are used to reconstitute the patient's lifeline, especially flowers and stones. Flowers are used to represent good/positive events, whereas stones are the bad/negative events of the patient's life. Size, shape and colour of symbols may also be used to indicate events with greater or lesser intensity or significance. It is up to the patient to decide on placing and choosing these symbols to reconstitute his/her lifeline. The biggest stones are then chosen to be dealt with, since they represent the greatest traumas that the patient need to reprocess or overcome.

Narration
Narrations are a product of the therapy. In the end of a therapy, the narration is read and given to the patient. It is supposed to be a representative summary of the patient's life, even including some details. Narrations are expected to be taken by the patient to help him/her overcome his trauma and mental problems. Narrations are helpful for the patient to re-process his/her memories of the past, particularly the trauma, and reorganize his/her thoughts, which should ultimately reduce the recurrence of bad memories that are responsible for the suffering of to the patient.

Adaptations

 * NET: aimed at a general public
 * KidNET: aimed at children and adolescents
 * FORNET: aimed at perpetrators
 * NETFacts: aimed at communities (under development)

Empirical evidence
Studies across the world have tested the efficacy of NET. For example:


 * Burundi


 * D.R. of Congo


 * Germany


 * Norway


 * Romania


 * Rwanda


 * Sri Lanka


 * Sweden


 * Uganda

Criticism
Studies that clearly state a negative or non-existent effect of NET on treating mental disorders are rare to find in GoogleScholar searches. [to be added]

References cited
Category: Clinical research Category: Mental health Category: Psychology Category: Psychotherapy Category: Trauma and stressor related disorders