Contributed by Janina Fisher
Janina Fisher reflects on the beginning of her career and how differently we've viewed trauma in psychotherapy through the years. Read more
Is Our Culture Making Us Sick?
Gabor Maté on Stress and DiseaseGabor Maté's newest book is a reminder of the many ways in which we are not our symptoms. Read more
We’ve put together a video reel of therapists sharing some of the playful moments they’ve had with clients... Read more
The Perpetual Student
A Trauma Treatment JourneyA long-term client leads a therapist to discover that maybe the hard way is how we learn best. Read more
It isn’t easy to learn self-care. Sometimes, you need to go through a fiery furnace to arrive at a place of centeredness. Read more
What Four Decades of Practice Has Taught Me
Janina Fisher’s Lessons for Every Beginning TherapistIf you could go back in time and give advice to yourself as a beginning therapist, what would you say? Worry less? Train harder? Practice more self-care... Read more
Nine Simple Interventions for Depression
During COVID-19 and All Challenging TimesDuring COVID-19 and all challenging times, these simple sensorimotor interventions for depression can be easily adapted for teletherapy. Read more
VIDEO: Nine Sensorimotor Strategies for Depression
Trauma Expert Janina Fisher Breaks Down Her Key InterventionsWhat strategies do psychotherapy's most effective therapists use to treat depression? Trauma expert and bestselling author Janina Fisher breaks down nine... Read more
VIDEO: Janina Fisher on How Trauma Gets Stored in the Body
What It Can Teach Us About Navigating Covid-Related StressResearch shows us that trauma is stored in the body. But how does this happen, and why? Here, trauma expert Janina Fisher explains, and shares how this... Read more
Nine Simple Interventions for Depression
Help for Challenging TimesHere are some simple Sensorimotor Psychotherapy interventions that can help those who are feeling depressed and alone. Read more
VIDEO: Janina Fisher on Collaborating with Clients in Trauma Treatment
The Secret to Tapping Into Inner ResourcesFor many traumatized clients, even beginning to explore a traumatic event can be an act of bravery. According to therapist and trauma expert Janina Fisher, in... Read more
Rediscovering Happiness
The Use of Positive Childhood Triggers in PsychotherapyTo create deep change, we need to help people mine the sources of intense pleasure in their lives, wherever they may find them. Read more
VIDEO: Who Should You Talk To?
Janina Fisher on how and when to speak to a client’s “child part”When an adult is in your consulting room, it’s understandable if you use adult language and logic. But at certain points in the healing process, you may need... Read more
Putting the Pieces Together
25 Years of Learning Trauma TreatmentTwenty-five years ago, we believed that helping trauma survivors dig into dark and unspeakable horrors would set them free. But in this new age of trauma... Read more
VIDEO: The Inevitability of Challenging Clients
Janina Fisher on Seeing the Cracks in the FoundationIn this clip Janina Fisher talks about how years of experience do not guarantee easy clients and how she reacts when faced with a challenging case. Read more
The Anatomy of Self-Hatred
Learning to Love Our Loathed "Selves"With stalemated cases in which the task of self-acceptance feels impossible, the therapist needs to offer more than compassion and encouragement. Read more
Breaking Free
A Mind-Body Approach to Retraining the BrainPutting the power of neuroplasticity to work in the consulting room. Read more
Brain to Brain: January/February 2010
The talking cure goes beyond wordsAs we learn more about the brain, it becomes apparent that therapists need to pay at least as much attention to the body and nervous system (both their own and... Read more
Janina Fisher
Janina Fisher, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and former instructor at The Trauma Center, a research and treatment center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known as an expert on the treatment of trauma, Dr. Fisher has also been treating individuals, couples and families since 1980.
She is past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, Assistant Educational Director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches nationally and internationally on topics related to the integration of the neurobiological research and newer trauma treatment paradigms into traditional therapeutic modalities.
She is author of the bestselling Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma: A Workbook for Survivors and Therapists (2021), Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation (2017), and co-author with Pat Ogden of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Attachment and Trauma.(2015).