Narrative Exposure Therapy for Perinatal Trauma
Something happened during your pregnancy, birth, or postpartum period that you haven't been able to leave behind.
Maybe it was a birth that went nothing like you planned. A loss. Days or weeks in a NICU trying to hold yourself together while your baby fought to get strong. A pregnancy marked by fear, complications, or a diagnosis that changed everything.
You're on the other side of it now. But it doesn't feel that way.
You find yourself replaying it. Avoiding anything that brings it back. Feeling disconnected from your baby, your body, or your life in a way you can't fully explain. People tell you to be grateful, to focus on the healthy baby, to move on.
You're trying. It's not that simple.
What is Narrative Exposure Therapy?
Narrative Exposure Therapy — NET — is an evidence-based treatment for trauma that was originally developed for survivors of complex, repeated traumatic experiences. It works by helping you build a coherent, chronological account of your life — including the traumatic events — so that memories that feel fragmented, intrusive, and overwhelming can be processed and integrated.
The research on NET is strong. It is recognized as an effective treatment for PTSD and trauma-related symptoms and has been used successfully with survivors of a wide range of traumatic experiences.
What makes NET particularly well suited to perinatal trauma is that it doesn't require you to isolate a single traumatic event. Perinatal trauma is often layered — a difficult pregnancy followed by a frightening birth followed by a NICU stay followed by a postpartum period that nobody supported you through. NET holds all of it. You don't have to choose which part was bad enough to count.
What NET helps with
Birth trauma A birth experience that felt frightening, out of control, or life-threatening — yours or your baby's. Emergency interventions, unexpected complications, feeling unheard or dismissed by your care team. Birth trauma is real, it is underdiagnosed, and it responds well to trauma-focused treatment.
Pregnancy loss Miscarriage, stillbirth, termination for medical reasons, or the loss of a multiple. Grief after pregnancy loss is often disenfranchised — minimized by others, invisible to the outside world. NET creates space for the full weight of what you experienced.
NICU experience Days, weeks, or months watching your baby through glass. Alarms. Uncertainty. The particular kind of trauma that comes from loving someone fiercely while having almost no control over what happens to them. NICU trauma is frequently overlooked in postpartum mental health conversations. It shouldn't be.
Traumatic pregnancy A pregnancy marked by hyperemesis, a frightening diagnosis, preterm labor, or the constant fear that something would go wrong. Trauma doesn't require a single catastrophic moment. A pregnancy lived in fear is its own kind of traumatic experience.
Postpartum PTSD Intrusive memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, emotional numbing, avoidance of anything that brings the experience back. Postpartum PTSD is more common than most people realize and is frequently missed or misdiagnosed as postpartum depression.
How NET works
NET involves working chronologically through your life story — not just the traumatic experiences, but everything. The good, the hard, the in between.
This matters because trauma doesn't exist in isolation. It exists inside a life. NET helps place the traumatic event back into the context of your full story, which is part of what allows the nervous system to process it as something that happened rather than something that is still happening.
Sessions are talk-based. You don't have to relive anything in graphic detail. The work is about building a narrative — your words, your pace, your story.
Because I specialize in perinatal mental health, the work is also informed by a deep understanding of what this particular season of life looks like, what's developmentally normal, and how trauma in the perinatal period affects not just you but your relationship with your baby.
What to expect
We begin with a thorough assessment of what you've been through and how it's showing up now. From there, sessions move through your life narrative at a pace that feels manageable.
NET is typically delivered over 8 to 12 sessions, though the timeline varies depending on the complexity of what you've experienced. Some people need more. Some complete the core work more quickly.
This is not a process that asks you to just talk about hard things indefinitely with no structure. NET has a clear framework and a clear direction. You will know where we are and where we're going.
Is NET right for me?
NET may be a good fit if:
You experienced something during pregnancy, birth, or the postpartum period that still feels unresolved
You have symptoms of PTSD or trauma — intrusive thoughts, avoidance, emotional numbing, hypervigilance — whether or not you have a formal diagnosis
Your trauma is layered or complex rather than a single isolated event
You've tried other approaches and haven't found relief
You want a structured, evidence-based treatment rather than open-ended talk therapy
If you're not sure whether NET is the right fit for what you've been through, a free consultation is the best place to start.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a PTSD diagnosis to benefit from NET? No. Many people who experienced something traumatic during the perinatal period don't meet full diagnostic criteria for PTSD but are still significantly affected. If what you went through is still getting in the way of your life, your relationship with your baby, or your sense of yourself, that's enough.
My birth was a long time ago. Is it too late? No. Perinatal trauma can be processed years after the event. Many parents come to this work when a subsequent pregnancy brings everything back, or when they realize they've been carrying something unaddressed for a long time.
I'm currently pregnant. Can I still do this work? This depends on where you are in your pregnancy and what you've been through. Trauma processing during pregnancy requires careful clinical judgment. Reach out and we can talk through whether this is the right time or whether supportive work first makes more sense.
How is this different from EMDR or other trauma treatments? NET works through a chronological life narrative. For perinatal trauma that is layered or complex, NET's narrative structure can be particularly well suited. I'm happy to discuss which approach might be the better fit during a consultation.
Does virtual therapy work for trauma treatment? Yes. Trauma-focused therapy including NET has been delivered effectively via telehealth and research supports its use in virtual formats. Many clients find that being in their own space actually supports the work.
You've been carrying this long enough.
Perinatal trauma is real. It is treatable. And you don't have to keep managing it alone.
Dr. Lexie offers virtual Narrative Exposure Therapy for perinatal trauma across PSYPACT states including Illinois, Maryland, Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas. She specializes in birth trauma, difficult pregnancies, NICU trauma, and postpartum PTSD.