TRAUMA HEALING IN CONFLICT-AFFECTED COMMUNITIES IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NARRATIVE EXPOSURE THERAPY (NET) AND SUPPORTIVE COUNSELLING

This study investigated the comparative efficacy of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) and Supportive Counselling (SC) in mitigating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among secondary school students in Anambra State, Nigeria. The region was severely impacted by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) “sit-at-home” mandates and security instability between 2021 and 2026. Utilising a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test/follow-up design, 120 Senior Secondary 2 (SS2) students were screened using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), which demonstrated high reliability (α = 0.94). Data were analysed using independent samples T-tests at a 0.05 significance level and Multiple Regression to determine predictive factors for recovery. Findings revealed that NET significantly outperformed SC in symptom reduction and long-term remission; at a 12-month follow-up, 71.7% of NET participants achieved clinical recovery compared to only 21.6% in the SC group. Regression analysis confirmed that the type of intervention was a stronger predictor of psychological well-being (β= -0.521) than the initial severity of the trauma. The study concluded that the habituation and narrative integration mechanisms of NET were essential for addressing chronic trauma in high-adversity settings and recommended a systematic shift in educational policy towards specialised trauma care and the adoption of a Public Service Continuity Framework to ensure educational resilience.