In this three-part article series extracted from Janina Fisher Ph.D.’s Trauma-informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) therapy certification program, we’re going to talk about the importance of the therapist becoming an outspoken advocate for trauma-related parts as a way of modeling this for the client.
In Trauma Therapy Training with Janina Fisher: Being a Parts Advocate Part 1, we shared excerpts from a key aspect of the Dr. Janina Fisher TIST certification for therapists. Learning how to give voice to the unique parts – an expression of the fragmented selves of trauma survivors – is very important in supporting the healing process of trauma survivors. If you haven’t yet read part one, we encourage you to start there, then read this continuation.
In the first article of the series, Janina shares the 4 Laws (or Rules) of Dissociation that she developed in the 90’s as a way to better understand what trauma survivors really need, and what to expect from working with them. This has demonstrated to be especially important with complex trauma cases.
Janina asserts that the fourth rule is the hardest: The therapist is the therapist for all the parts. This means the parts we find compliant, those which are self-harming, those that seem to derail sessions, those that are relatable, those that are not – all the parts; those that are loud, and those that are silent.
Today, in our part two, we share more from Janina Fisher’s course transcript, where she shares about the importance of keeping the system balanced by advocating for all the parts, and why this is important. Enjoy!
Janina shares…
I had a client (Suzanne) whose history was, “I was treated badly, and nobody acknowledged it and nobody did anything.” Even though I may not wish to hear the litany of complaints from the complaining part, it’s important that I acknowledge that part because that part is in charge of letting me know who has done Suzanne wrong. And I understand that part is speaking on behalf of the parts who’ve been done wrong. Because at the heart of her trauma history was a family in which adults did the children wrong and no one acknowledged it. So I have to find a way to acknowledge that complaining part who probably I’ll call the injustice part. The part that wants me to know every unjust thing that’s happened. And then, I have to be able to advocate for that part.
Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survviors: Advocating for All the Parts
Even though as a therapist, I really don’t want 15 to 20 minutes of that part every session. And actually, as I’m even thinking about saying it now, I have a whole different relationship to the complaining part. Because as I imagine, acknowledging to Suzanne, “You know, the complaining part or the injustice part is here to remind the both of us that people have done you wrong this week. And that you feel overwhelmed, and parts feel overwhelmed.” Now, I’m becoming an advocate, I’m advocating for the injustice part. I’m advocating for the little parts who feel overwhelmed because every week, Suzanne gives voice to a part that maximizes the stress in her life. She certainly has a lot of stress, I want to be clear about that. But the maximizer makes it bigger. It’s a disaster, not just a problem. Such as when her neighbor’s tree falling in her yard during a snow storm became a crisis.
The maximizer doesn’t want things minimized. Why? Because she came from a family of minimizers. So of course, that maximizer part is gonna make sure that nobody thinks this is just another problem. Now, as a therapist, it’s easy to empathize with the part that’s sad, with the part that’s lonely, with the part that feels ashamed. It’s easy to empathize, it’s easy to connect with parts who want connection, with parts that want to disclose, with parts who want to learn what we have to offer. But if I pay more attention to those parts, I’m going to unbalance the system.
Unbalanced Systems Prevention in Trauma Therapy (Janina Fisher)
Paying more attention to the parts I can easily connect to unbalances the system because it forces the protectors to be more protective to keep me from tipping the scales toward more vulnerability. This is very hard for us therapists, because we were trained to help clients access vulnerability.
But remembering to keeping that balance is very, very important. If the angry protector parts, the parts that that defend toughness aren’t acknowledged and advocated for, we’re going to have a problem. And for me, the key is remembering that every part, no matter how trying, is there to serve the cause of survival. Yes, survival then, but those parts don’t know that it’s about survival then. Suzanne’s parts believe that their survival is on the line every day.
Now, becoming an advocate is even more challenging when we have suicidal, self-destructive parts. So I have to make sure that I convey that I know the suicidal part is trying to help, is trying to make sure that things don’t fall apart, that it works very hard to ensure that the client isn’t vulnerable and victimized.
I have to know and make sure that I convey, the self-harming part is just trying to help out, just trying to get some relief for the client or scare the little parts into shutting up.
I have to understand skeptical parts, which are often very frustrating for the therapist. Because whatever we offer, the skeptical parts dispute. So I have to understand, “Oh, so you have a skeptical part that wants to make sure I’m not selling you something that you shouldn’t buy. Yeah, I bet the skeptical part is very, very unsure that I have anything useful to offer.”
Hopeless parts do a valiant job of preventing forward movement, preventing hope, of course, but even preventing access to relationships, to satisfaction of all kinds. Because the hopeless parts keep the focus on what’s hopeless, obscuring all the things that might offer hope. And now that I think about Suzanne’s complaining part, I really understand complaining parts are not just diverting our attention. They’re trying to get us to acknowledge injustice. It’s actually a little tricky here to advocate for the vulnerable parts, because remember, the client comes to us with parts phobic of vulnerability. But often we can, without trying to overemphasize vulnerability as the work of therapy, we can validate that the anxious parts are there to keep the client on his or her toes, right?
In fact, anxious parts are needed for the hypervigilant parts to be on guard. I always talk about parts who still know how to cry so that when the client cries and says, “Oh, I don’t know why I’m crying.” I say, “Well, you should thank the part of you that still knows how to cry.” So often the sweetness and charm of those little parts helps to draw people to the client.
The depressed parts, the ashamed parts reinforce invisibility. And so, often, it’s a real antidote to the self-shaming if I say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t talk about the ashamed part that way.” See, now I’m an advocate. “You can’t talk about that part like it’s a troublemaker. That part saved your ass. You should be giving that ashamed part a gold medal rather than being ashamed of it.”
I often say to my client Annie, “You know, your caretaker parts saved your life. You’re the sole survivor of the four children in your family. And you can thank your caretaker parts for that. Because even though your siblings hated you for it, caring for your mother was a brilliant idea.”
Trauma Therapy, Training Yourself to Advocate for the “Negative” Parts Causing Symptoms
So we can advocate for the parts who are causing the symptoms, whether those symptoms are flashbacks, self-hating thoughts, shame, hopelessness, whatever the symptoms are. I can say, “There’s something this part is trying to tell you.” That’s advocating, right? I’m listening to, I’m supporting the point of view of the part.
Advocating for parts who are causing resistance often melts the resistance away. Why wouldn’t we do it? I think it’s not automatic to validate resistant parts, but it is certainly valuable. We can advocate for the vulnerable parts without exploring their vulnerability. Because the protector parts are fine with our acknowledging the vulnerability. What the protector parts are afraid of is that we will explore, we’ll want to access that vulnerability and put the client at risk.
But I often advocate for hopeless parts, depressed parts, sad and lonely parts. And I say to the client, “If you don’t pay attention to this part, that part will have to bring you to your knees,” right? You can’t afford to say, I don’t want anything to do with the hopeless part or the sad part. Because like all children, they will make you pay for that.
So this brings us to the end of this section on becoming an advocate for the parts. Be creative, become an advocate in any way that you see fit. Notice that you want to advocate to the normal life self. Because really what I want to do is role model that all of these parts need an advocate. And this is how the client can become an advocate themselves.
In part three of this series, we’ll share a short case example from one of Janina’s clients. We hope sharing this important part of the Janina Fisher TIST therapy certification training helps you to understand a bit more about the TIST model. We invite you to explore the Trauma-informed Stabilization Treatment certification for therapists via the link below. We look forward to seeing you in the trainings.
Join Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment Webinar by Dr. Janina Fisher
Helping Trauma Survivors Get Unstuck: A Fragmented Selves Approach in Therapy
In This NEW Janina Fisher Webinar you will learn:
How to understand perplexing clients using the TIST perspective so you can see the fragmented selves at work.
How to organize a treatment plan using the TIST model so you have an effective approach to care.
How TIST helps shift even the most stuck clients so they can finally make progress.
How to relieve your frustration and prevent burnout with more effective trauma treatment.
