Janina Fisher

Trauma fragments the self, leaving behind parts of us that carry fear, rage, shame, hopelessness, and despair. In Embracing Our Fragmented Selves, internationally renowned trauma therapist Dr. Janina Fisher offers a clear and compassionate approach to working with these parts and restoring a sense of inner harmony. Grounded in structural dissociation theory, parts work, and sensorimotor psychotherapy, this workbook teaches trauma survivors to: Understand their symptoms as expressions of different parts Notice, unblend from, and befriend traumatized parts Recognize self-destructive behaviors as the behavior of protector parts Offer reparative experiences to wounded young parts Whether you're a trauma survivor or therapist, this book serves as a reminder that every part of us, no matter how wounded or extreme, is deserving of care. Healing begins when we meet those parts with support, appreciation, and acceptance.

Whether you are stuck in the distress of life, or appear like nothing’s wrong, you may have faced trauma or incredible stress or suffocating fear. Maybe you wonder whether those emotions, memories, and experiences are blocking you from being as fulfilled and happy as you could be. Maybe you’re stuck in patterns that simply no longer work for you. What if you could change it all? What if you could feel safe and solid and secure inside your own body? What if your life could be peaceful and centered and fulfilled? In Becoming Safely Embodied, Deidre Fay shares from her 35 years of psychotherapy and spiritual practice to provide a truly practical way to integrate modern neurobiology and ancient wisdom to finally and completely heal from emotional trauma, no matter how deep or faint, how long ago or recent you experienced the pain. Throughout her years as a therapist, Deirdre noticed that clients would make progress while in a therapy session and then revert to old patterns between sessions. What people need is a set of skills and practices to support ongoing healing and wholeness. That's what this book will help you with. You’ll discover: What “trauma” is and why you might have had a hard time healing from this pain, Why shame is an attachment wound and how to harness self-compassion to truly transform suffering, What to do when you feel like you’re easily “triggered” by a certain person or situation in your life so that you can stay centered and safe, Instantly effective methods of breath work for brain change and emotional regulation so that you can calm your mind or energize your body, The nine core skills that can help you to be more at home with your internal world and cultivate a body that’s a safe place for rest, reflection, and wellbeing, Simple daily practices that (like brushing your teeth) promote ongoing healing in your body, mind, and soul, And much, much more. Whether you are healing from abandonment issues or from pain or from grief—or whether you are helping someone else to heal—Becoming Safely Embodied is your map and guidebook to finally becoming at home with your internal world, cultivating a body that’s a safe place for rest, reflection, and wellbeing, and creating the life you want to live, instead of living in the life your history catapults you into. You may be wondering, “Is it possible for ME? Can I change? Is it possible for me to shift these painful patterns into a more fulfilling life? Can I truly organize this crazy inner world?” The simple answer is, “Yes,” and your journey to becoming safely embodied begins inside the pages of this book.

Traumatic experiences leave a "living legacy" of effects that often persist for years and decades after the events are over. Historically, it has always been assumed that re-telling the story of what happened would resolve these effects. However, survivors report a different experience: Telling and re-telling the story of what happened to them often reactivates their trauma responses, overwhelming them rather than resolving the trauma. To transform traumatic experiences, survivors need to understand their symptoms and reactions as normal responses to abnormal events. They need ways to work with the symptoms that intrude on their daily activities, preventing a life beyond trauma. Dr. Janina Fisher, international expert on trauma, has spent over 40 years working with survivors, helping them to navigate the healing journey. In Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma, she shows how the legacy of symptoms helped them survive and offers: Step-by-step strategies that can be used on their own or in collaboration with a therapistSimple diagrams that make sense of the confusing feelings and physical reactions survivors experienceWorksheets to practice the skills that bring relief and ultimately healing

Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors integrates a neurobiologically informed understanding of trauma, dissociation, and attachment with a practical approach to treatment, all communicated in straightforward language accessible to both client and therapist. Readers will be exposed to a model that emphasizes "resolution"—a transformation in the relationship to one’s self, replacing shame, self-loathing, and assumptions of guilt with compassionate acceptance. Its unique interventions have been adapted from a number of cutting-edge therapeutic approaches, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, mindfulness-based therapies, and clinical hypnosis. Readers will close the pages of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors with a solid grasp of therapeutic approaches to traumatic attachment, working with undiagnosed dissociative symptoms and disorders, integrating "right brain-to-right brain" treatment methods, and much more. Most of all, they will come away with tools for helping clients create an internal sense of safety and compassionate connection to even their most dis-owned selves.

Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors integrates a neurobiologically informed understanding of trauma, dissociation, and attachment with a practical approach to treatment, all communicated in straightforward language accessible to both client and therapist. Readers will be exposed to a model that emphasizes "resolution"—a transformation in the relationship to one’s self, replacing shame, self-loathing, and assumptions of guilt with compassionate acceptance. Its unique interventions have been adapted from a number of cutting-edge therapeutic approaches, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, mindfulness-based therapies, and clinical hypnosis. Readers will close the pages of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors with a solid grasp of therapeutic approaches to traumatic attachment, working with undiagnosed dissociative symptoms and disorders, integrating "right brain-to-right brain" treatment methods, and much more. Most of all, they will come away with tools for helping clients create an internal sense of safety and compassionate connection to even their most dis-owned selves.

Kehon viisaus on psykoterapian alalla vielä varsin vähän hyödynnetty voimavara, vaikka ”somaattisen tarinan” – eleiden, asentojen puheen prosodisten piireiden, kasvonilmeiden, katseiden ja kehon liikkeen – kautta välittyvä viesti on todennäköisesti merkityksellisempi kuin sanoin kerrottu tarina. Kehon kielestä välittyy implisiittisiä merkityksiä, ja se paljastaa ne vaikutukset, joita traumalla ja varhaisella tai unohdetulla, kiintymyssuhdekumppaneihin liittyvällä dynamiikalla on ihmisiin. Kehon sivuuttaminen terapeuttisessa työskentelyssä on valitettavaa, koska se sulkee äärimmäisen tärkeän väylän kohti itsetuntemusta ja muutosta. Tämä teos on käytännön opas kehon kieleen, ja se on kirjoitettu terapeutteja ja terapia-asiakkaita ajatellen. Kirjan ensimmäisessä osassa terapeuteille ja asiakkaille esitellään kirjan sisältö ja annetaan ohjeet sen hyödyntämiseen ja toisessa osassa luodaan yleiskatsaus aivojen merkitykseen ja tietoisen läsnäolon hyödyntämiseen.. Kolme viimeistä osaa noudattaa sensomotorisen psykoterapian kolmea vaihetta siten, että ensimmäisessä osassa keskitytään asiakkaan voimavarojen kehittämiseen, toisessa muistojen käsittelyssä käytettävään, alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuvaan somaattiseen lähestymistapaan ja kolmannessa kiintymyssuhteiden merkitykseen proseduraalisen oppimisen, tunteiden valikoitumisen ja kognitiivisten vääristymien kannalta. Kunkin luvun yhteydessä on terapeuteille tarkoitetut ohjeet jotka auttavat soveltamaan kirjan opetuksia hoitotyössä, sekä tehtäväsivut, joiden avulla asiakkaat saavat henkilökohtaisen kosketuksen opittavaan materiaaliin. Kirjan käsitteet, interventiot ja tehtävät on laadittu käytettäviksi muiden terapiamenetelmien ohella. Materiaalia ei siis ole tarkoitettu yksinomaiseksi hoitokeinoksi tai terapiakäsikirjaksi. Huomion kiinnittäminen terapiasuhteeseen, interventioiden sovittaminen kunkin asiakkaan tarpeisiin ja tietoinen keskittyminen siihen, mitä sanotaan kehon kautta ilman sanoja, voivat lähentää asiakkaan ja terapeutin yhteistä matkaa ja edistää muutosta asiakkaan mielen salaisissa sopukoissa.

The body’s intelligence is largely an untapped resource in psychotherapy, yet the story told by the “somatic narrative”-- gesture, posture, prosody, facial expressions, eye gaze, and movement -- is arguably more significant than the story told by the words. The language of the body communicates implicit meanings and reveals the legacy of trauma and of early or forgotten dynamics with attachment figures. To omit the body as a target of therapeutic action is an unfortunate oversight that deprives clients of a vital avenue of self-knowledge and change. Written for therapists and clients to explore together in therapy, this book is a practical guide to the language of the body. It begins with a section that orients therapists and clients to the volume and how to use it, followed by an overview of the role of the brain and the use of mindfulness. The last three sections are organized according to a phase approach to therapy, focusing first on developing personal resources, particularly somatic ones; second on utilizing a bottom-up, somatic approach to memory; and third on exploring the impact of attachment on procedural learning, emotional biases, and cognitive distortions. Each chapter is accompanied by a guide to help therapists apply the chapter’s teachings in clinical practice and by worksheets to help clients integrate the material on a personal level. The concepts, interventions, and worksheets introduced in this book are designed as an adjunct to, and in support of, other methods of treatment rather than as a stand-alone treatment or manualized approach. By drawing on the therapeutic relationship and adjusting interventions to the particular needs of each client, thoughtful attention to what is being spoken beneath the words through the body can heighten the intimacy of the therapist/client journey and help change take place more easily in the hidden recesses of the self.