Transforming The Living Legacy of Trauma: A Workbook for Survivors and Therapists Paperback – February 1, 2021

This is one of the most important writings in present day psychotherapy. For both therapist and patient it covers every aspect of trauma and builds the staircase of understanding from childhood trauma to present day behaviors . The material is highly understandable, hits the nail on the head and helps the reader to understand and cope with the many layers of trauma that they may have experienced in their life. The book also empowers the reader to find solutions that work in changing unwanted behavior. In essence it makes the legacy of trauma manageable in a way that the individual can initiate and understand how to be successful in coping with the unseen fallout from trauma.

Highly recommend to survivors of multiple traumas, but especially those diagnosed with Complex-PTSD (C-PTSD). Was introduced to this book in intensive PTSD treatment and helped me understand... myself. It provided the foundation I needed to begin legitimate healing after over a decade of nearly zero progress with misguided therapeutic techniques and related diagnoses. It will never leave my bookshelf.

Transforming the Legacy of Trauma was a short but impactful book. I spoke about this book so much that I thought I had written the review in 2023. The author provided one of the best manuals to identify how, when, what, and who is traumatized. She then highlighted ways to alert us when we are interacting and triggered by fears or triggers.She extensively explained the human brain from birth through adolescence. Her research was a huge eye-opener and deeply intrigued me. She established through case studies and examples how our mind/brain develops, ages, grows, activates, and sometimes, parts of the brain shuts off. She revealed how even basic things can trigger a person into unhealthy behaviors and not always for the reasons we speculate.She spoke about our bodies none verbal memories. This book reconfirms that trauma does not disappear, but we can learn to mitigate our response with direct and mindful work. This pivotal work has many applications for home, school, office, prisons, private therapy, human resources, military, police, etc.The Legacy of Trauma is a terrific book that should be read, shared, treasured, and referenced often. It was one of my best reads for 2023. There is also an accompanying workbook and a list of resources to continue learning.

I haven't started this yet, but my therapist recommended it to me. From what I've started reading so far, it seems to offer a unique way of working through past traumas and understanding how it plays out in your current life. Excited to get started.

Overall I found this workbook highly revelatory and clarifying. However I got the sense that the author was told by maybe one patient, one time "can you diagram that for me" and no one since has had the heart to tell her that they're gibberish. In the intro she insists that people find these concepts easier to understand with the diagrams, but I don't see how that's possible. They are typically either unnecessary, with visual elements that can be ignored, or impossible to understand. I wish she'd just said what needed to be said clearly instead of trying to dumb it down with pictures. I feel the average person doesn't require that degree of hand-holding. This flaw may seem like a trivial nitpick but I find it highly frustrating.

I am so glad I ordered this book. So far it is an excellent read and helping me. Thank you for the delivery.

Dr. Fisher pinned my inner dialogues. This is a must read book for anyone who experienced childhood trauma. So much makes sense and I feel a sense of hope that has been missing for many years.

I'm just a caretaker trying to help one of my adult children, who is a trauma survivor, navigate the process of healing. I'm not a therapist but we personally have found this book to be extremely helpful!! We live in an area where finding a good therapist has been extremely difficult. I really wish more therapists would use this method. It seems we are always treating the symptoms rather than the cause. Why can't therapists get it that survivors don't want to talk about what happened over and over again!? This oftentimes keeps people from seeking help ( my young adult child has worked with multiple therapists and refuses to try yet another one) because it really does do more harm than good. Janina Fisher truly understands what survivors really want. They want to learn to value themselves and the things that helped them survive. But they want to move on! However, they need the tools to retrain their brains and bodies to be able to (slowly and gently) do that. This book helps to begin that journey. It can be used without a therapist but, of course, ideally it would be best to have one. I think after working through this a survivor might be more inclined to try therapy again especially if they are trauma informed. I have made more progress communicating with my child in the past few weeks with this book alone than I have in 4 years (with multiple specialists) thanks to Janina Fisher and her work. Reviewers have mentioned that she uses the triune brain model which is outdated. She specifically states in the book that IT IS outdated however in order to simply the information for everyday people she uses it. I wasn't interested in a science textbook and neither was my child so we personally are thankful that she kept it as simple as possible!!Side note to caretakers ---This book would be difficult for someone who is not reading at an average adult level. Since some of the worksheets the survivor fills out are personal it may be difficult for a caregiver to help someone work through this and maintain privacy.