Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma: A Workbook for Survivors and Therapists

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 their 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 therapist

Simple diagrams that make sense of the confusing feelings and physical reactions survivors experience

Worksheets to practice the skills that bring relief and ultimately rejuvenation

Janina Fisher, PhD, is the assistant educational director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute and a former instructor at Harvard Medical School. An international expert on the treatment of trauma, she is the author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Self-Alienation and is co-author with Pat Ogden of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Attachment and Trauma. She is known for her work on integrating neuroscience research and new body-centered interventions into traditional psychotherapy approaches.