Janina Fisher: recent publications

Peter Levine (clinical psychologist) states that: “Trauma is the most avoided, ignored, denied, misunderstood, and untreated cause of human suffering.”There are even theories that Sigmund Freud — the father of psychoanalysis — ignored the sexual abuse experienced by many of his patients, misinterpreting real experiences and explaining them with concepts like “hysteria,” “false memories,” and his theory of psychosexual development.Janina Fisher, PhD (psychologist) talks about the legacy of trauma. By legacy, she means the natural responses trauma leaves survivors. It is the legacy of trauma itself that is not only ignored by society in general, but also in professional fields that should be supporting those who are traumatized. Psychiatry has a history of seeing people as just symptoms, all while not recognizing the symptomology of trauma. Therefore, they have tended to just throw labels at survivors, rather than looking at the history of a person. They have asked, “What’s wrong with you?” rather than, “What happened to you?” The approach hasn’t been one of empathy, and it hasn’t always been an accurate one either.