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How narrative therapy may help your clients with trauma

Storytelling allows clients to see their trauma through a different lens. Here’s how it can support their treatment.

Traumatic experiences, whether a one-time event or long-term exposure to abuse, can lead to many unwanted emotions and behaviors. One evidence-based modality therapists commonly use to help clients with trauma is called narrative therapy, or narrative exposure therapy. 

With this modality, you can help your client think differently about their traumatic experiences, so they feel less overwhelming and easier to cope with. Below, learn more about narrative therapy, and how you can use it to support clients in your practice.

What is narrative therapy?

Narrative therapy is a psychotherapy modality often used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). When it’s used specifically for PTSD or C-PTSD, narrative therapy is often referred to as narrative exposure therapy (NET).

Traumatic memories can often feel disorganized, which can lead to a feeling of overwhelm for people who have experienced trauma. NET focuses on making traumatic memories less overwhelming through storytelling. 

As the client explores their experiences in a linear way, they can feel more like events that occurred in time and space, and less like ever-looming triggers. Storytelling also allows clients to see their experiences through a different lens, which may change how the memories affect them.

What is considered trauma? 

The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event.” This response may include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and physical symptoms such as nausea, headaches, or sleep problems.


Examples of trauma include: 

  • Accidents
  • Crime
  • War
  • Natural disasters
  • Physical or emotional abuse
  • Neglect
  • Experiencing or witnessing violence
  • The death of a loved one


These examples are not to be confused with criteria A of PTSD. And while trauma is often thought of as a one-time, large-scale event, it can also include multiple events that continue over time (like repeated abuse). This is often referred to as complex trauma. 

How does narrative therapy work?

Narrative therapy starts with having a client establish a chronological narrative of their life, called a “trauma narrative.” This narrative concentrates on traumatic experiences but can incorporate positive ones as well.

The storytelling aspect of NET is a form of exposure to trauma, which can help desensitize triggers. Revisiting the narrative can help clients gain clarity on memories so they become less overwhelming and easier to cope with. Incorporating positive memories, such as supportive people or skills gained from difficult experiences, can also make the traumatic memories less difficult to manage.

Ultimately, NET helps the client organize their memories, reframe unhelpful ways of thinking about them, and, over time, reduce painful emotions and unwanted responses to trauma.

What makes narrative therapy successful

Helping your client create a new account about what happened in their life can help them come to terms with traumatic events that affect their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. When these memories feel less overwhelming and all-encompassing, it’s easier for clients to cope with difficult memories and apply skills they learn in therapy. 

Techniques for utilizing narrative therapy with clients healing from trauma

  • Creating a narrative: The first step of narrative therapy is helping a client create a narrative of their story, including both traumatizing and positive components. Typically, the trauma narrative starts with the facts, and then integrates thoughts and feelings that arise from those facts. 
  • Help the client externalize: One goal of narrative therapy is encouraging clients to observe themselves as separate from their story. Creating distance can help make the story less overwhelming and help clients separate themselves from traumatic memories and their effects. 
  • Deconstruct the narrative: This is a technique you can use to help people break down their experiences into smaller stories that feel more manageable and approachable. Deconstructing aspects of a client’s narrative can help reduce cognitive distortions, such as all-or-nothing thinking or catastrophizing, that have negative emotional effects.


Identify unique outcomes: With trauma, it’s easy to focus on negative aspects of one’s life experience. Unique outcomes are experiences that don’t align with the story the client is telling themselves — positive experiences that helped shape them as much as the trauma. Helping your client recognize unique outcomes can make the trauma feel less all-encompassing and create a more realistic, well-rounded view of the past.

How long does narrative therapy take?

Therapy duration varies for every client, but a 2011 NLM publication noted between four and 12 90-minute sessions was the norm for narrative therapy. As a therapist, thorough documentation can ensure you stay in line with your clients’ goals so you can adjust your treatment plan as needed to ensure the best possible outcomes for resolving trauma symptoms.

Headway helps you learn about therapy techniques.

By partnering with the continued education organizations PESI and Violet, Headway provides free, accredited continuing education to providers. There are over 145 hours of continuing education with 55 courses available across these platforms, allowing you to learn more about different therapy techniques that can support your clients on their mental health journeys, such as narrative therapy. Plus, explore our other clinical support resources.

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