The Part That Keeps Going

In this clip, Janina Fisher explores what she calls the “going on with normal life” part—the part that keeps functioning despite profound internal distress. She explains how trauma survivors often misinterpret this adaptive part as “faking it” or being fraudulent, rather than recognizing the courage it takes to carry on while other parts feel anxious, angry, depressed, or hopeless.

Janina reframes this common misunderstanding, reminding viewers that trauma does not erase the self—we are more than our suffering parts.

Transcript

In a world that is chronically dangerous, It's adaptive to continue to fragment. And this survivor child, The one who is being watched, Often starts to fragment into parts that are there to anticipate the next and the next and the next traumatic event. Because, Again, In a traumatic environment, It's not important to remember what just happened. What's important is to be ready for what's coming next, Because something is coming next, For sure. And so parts begin to develop, Driven by the survival defenses common to all of us. Parts that are driven by the fight response, By the flight response, By the fear or freeze like a deer in the headlights response, By the submission response, And by the cry for help response. All of which are adaptive, But at a given moment, One might facilitate a little more safety than another. You know, It's very interesting. There's actually research now that is beginning to show that in the late teens and early 20s, Survivors of trauma are much more asymptomatic. They don't seem to have a lot of symptoms. But by their mid-20s, They start to suffer from the symptoms. Whether those symptoms are anxiety, Depression, Suicidal thoughts and feelings, Addictions, Eating disorders, Self-harm, Something stirs up the parts and they begin to to act and react. And what's interesting is that the parts act and react in the psychological world of the trauma. So the part driven by the fight response is going to be suspicious, Even paranoid, Is either going to be angry or critical. Because in a dangerous world, It's more important that your fight part be critical and keep you very narrowly focused on pleasing the powers that be. And many trauma survivors come to therapy with a merciless critical part that is constantly shaming and blaming them. Relational problems also. The cry for help part is there to ensure that we have connection and protection, Right? The whole reason for being of the cry for help response is to get help. And so in relationships, Often we will see that the cry for help part key is keeping the client stuck in a very unhealthy relationship because that cry for help part can't let go. Or it's a very unhealthy relationship because the cry for help part is easily hurt. And then the fight part attacks, Not physically, But verbally attacks the partner or spouse. And the relationship becomes tumultuous. So those parts start to appear and people assume that they're crazy. Or just as bad, They assume that their partners, Friends, Co-workers, Bosses, Even children, Are entertaining destructive intentions toward them. So what a terrible legacy of trauma.