Trauma Narratives

The act of creating a trauma narrative is a meaningful way for clients to process their trauma memories. By collaborating with them on their trauma narrative they are in a safe space and can work through the feelings, sounds, & imagery they associate with their trauma. Many times this intervention is used with children as a means to help them access their trauma memories, however I think it can be beneficial for adult clients as well. In both cases the trauma narrative can be written, verbal, or it can be an artistic expression.

As an integral part of Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), this intervention allows the therapist to guide the client through the process of making sense of their trauma memories, which in many can be less linear (think, flashbacks of images and sounds with less of the connective tissue of a traditional memory) than a typical memory. By working through the trauma memories your client is "making new meaning" out of those memories. Researchers Graci and Fivush (2016) looked at 224 college students who had experienced trauma and concluded that creating a trauma narrative is important to a person's psychological health.

While trauma narration is part of TF-CBT, it also can be a type of exposure therapy, because it creates a way for clients to confront (or 'expose' themselves by purposely thinking through the traumatic event(s)) to these memories in a safe and guided way so that they are not retraumatized in the telling (which can happen when these kinds of memories are shared at places and times when there is no support for the client). Exposure to the memories through intentional focus can be a powerful way for a client to face the trauma. I have only just begun to work with a client in this way after several months of time together, building rapport and trust. This client is beginning to share more about their past traumatization with me and we have had several sessions where they shared pieces of their complex and developmental trauma. This allowed us to consider the facts of the situation, any thoughts/feelings the client had, specific aspects that made the situation traumatic, and in the telling, consider an expanded way of viewing the event (ex. acknowledging the demonstration of bravery as well as the fear they experienced). This lays the groundwork for more bits and pieces of the client's trauma narrative to come forward and helps them feel confident that they can effectively face those memories.