1.2 STAIR Narrative Therapy Overview
Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR)
Narrative Therapy (SNT), is a phase-based intervention which was
initially developed for individuals with PTSD related to childhood abuse
but now is applied to treat the effects of various types of
interpersonal trauma (see Cloitre et al, 2020). The treatment was
developed to address not only the symptoms of PTSD but also the commonly
observed problems of emotion regulation and interpersonal problems among
those with chronic abuse (Cloitre et al., 2002). The first module
(STAIR) includes skill training to develop emotional and interpersonal
resources that have been compromised by long-term complex trauma. The
second module (Narrative Therapy) employs exposure and cognitive
restructuring techniques to alleviate PTSD symptoms. Three RCTs have
demonstrate the clinical efficacy of SNT for PTSD symptoms, and problems
related to emotion regulation and interpersonal functioning among
individuals with childhood abuse and interpersonal trauma (Cloitre et
al., 2002, 2010; Oprel et al., 2021). Given the problem domains it was
developed to resolve, the treatment appears transparently appropriate
for the treatment for CPTSD. A pilot study has indicated substantial
positive benefits for individuals with CPTSD (Niwa et al., 2022) and
other studies are under way.