Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation

Table of Contents:

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter One: Alienation from Self: How We Survive Overwhelming Experiences

Chapter Two: Understanding Parts, Understanding Traumatic Responses

Chapter Three: Parts Instead of Wholes: New Roles for Client and Therapist

Chapter Four: Seeing Our 'Selves: ' an Introduction to Parts Work

Chapter Five: Befriending Our Parts: Sowing Seeds of Compassion

Chapter Six: Complications of Treatment: Traumatic Attachment

Chapter Seven: Treatment Challenges: Suicidality, Self-Harm, Addictions, and Eating Disorders

Chapter Eight: Complications of Treatment: Dissociative Disorders

Chapter Nine: Repairing the Past: Embracing Our Selves

Chapter Ten: Restoring What was Lost to Wounded Children

Appendix A: Five Steps to "Unblending"

Appendix B: Meditation Circle for Parts

Appendix C: Internal Dialogue Technique

Appendix D: Treatment Paradigm for Internal Attachment Repair

Appendix E: Dissociative Experiences Log

Appendix F: The Four Befriending Questions

"This beautifully written, sensitive volume on how to treat the clients that many deem hopeless is a must read for those working with trauma. It will take you to new places and enable you to reach for your clients and find them when they cannot find themselves. Enjoy!"

Sue Johnson, PhD, professor, researcher, and author of Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships

"Written by one of the preeminent experts in the field of trauma and dissociation, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors imparts a vision of hope and validation to those suffering from complex trauma and the therapists who treat them. Janina Fisher's exceptional ability to synthesize the best of cutting edge trauma psychotherapies has resulted in a brilliant and unique roadmap for resolving chronic traumatization. Written with heart, clarity, and precision, this accessible and practical book is an outstanding contribution to the field."

Pat Ogden, PhD, founder, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute

"The role of cumulative trauma in the fragmentation of self-experience, the strategies for identifying, together with the client, the non-integrated parts of the personality during the clinical exchanges, and the integrating power of the psychotherapy dialogue have rarely been dealt with in such a convincing and original way as in the pages of this fascinating book."

Giovanni Liotti, MD, APC School of Psychotherapy, Rome, Italy

"Janina Fisher's unique blending of IFS 'parts' with sensorimotor and mindfulness-based therapy is a terrific enhancement to psychodynamic work. Although grounded in structural dissociation theory and trauma treatment, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors offers insights that will enrich the knowledge-base of therapists treating higher-functioning as well as deeply traumatized individuals. I recommend this remarkable book to all psychotherapists, especially psychodynamic ones, who will discover an extraordinary opportunity to expand their clinical horizons."

Kenneth A. Frank, PhD, Psychotherapy Integration Training Program, National Institute for Psychotherapies

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.

The Phoenix Spirit

Janina Fisher, PhD, is assistant education director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, an EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) consultant, and a former instructor at the Trauma Center, a clinic and research center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise as a clinician, author, and presenter, she is also past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, a former instructor at Harvard Medical School, and coauthor (with Pat Ogden) of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment.

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.