Janina Fisher

Janina Fisher is an American psychologist, a faculty member at the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute (with Pat Ogden), and a contemporary reference in therapeutic work with dissociation and complex trauma. Her book Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors (2017) is one of the most widely used manuals in clinical trauma training.

Central Contribution: Fisher articulates internal fragmentation in trauma survivors —the psyche is not experienced as a unit but as multiple 'parts' or 'selves' that carry different aspects of the trauma—. She integrates the IFS model (Schwartz) with the sensorimotor approach (Ogden), attachment theory (Bowlby-Main), and structural dissociation theory (van der Hart, Nijenhuis, Steele).

Key Concept: what appears in survivors of severe trauma as 'complex symptomatology' —rapid emotional state changes, brutal self-criticism, self-destructive behavior alternating with hypercontrolled behavior, seemingly contradictory identities— Fisher interprets as traumatized parts speaking in turns. Each part has its protective logic, its temporal fixation age, its defensive function.

Clinical Approach: therapeutic work does not seek to 'eliminate' problematic parts but to accompany the client in entering into a dialogical relationship with them from the compassionate adult Self. It is slow, patient work, profoundly respectful of the protective logic of each fragment.

Importance: Fisher is an essential reference for therapists who accompany survivors of severe child abuse, ritual abuse, political trauma, or any condition with significant dissociation. Compatible with Family Constellations when these clients have achieved sufficient internal integration.