Unblending the Pain: How TIST Helps Trauma Survivors Reclaim Their Lives

Trauma doesn’t always look like one big, catastrophic event. Sometimes it shows up as chronic anxiety, sudden emotional shifts, unexplained shutdowns, or a haunting inner critic that just won’t quiet down.

Many of my clients have said things like:
“I feel like part of me takes over and I can't stop it.”
“I know I’m safe now, but my body reacts like I’m not.”
“I don’t know why I explode—or shut down—around the people I love most.”

If any of this resonates with you, you’re not alone—and you’re not broken.

In my trauma-focused work, I use an approach called Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST), developed by Dr. Janina Fisher. It’s a model that’s revolutionized how I help clients who have experienced trauma, whether it's from childhood, relationships, loss, or emotional neglect.

What Is TIST?
TIST is a therapeutic model that integrates:

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) – the idea that we all have internal “parts” of ourselves developed in response to life experiences
• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy – which connects physical body responses to emotional and psychological healing
• Neuroscience – especially how trauma affects the brain and nervous system
  
  

At its core, TIST helps clients recognize, unblend from, and relate compassionately to the protective parts of themselves that formed in response to trauma. These parts may show up as fight, flight, freeze, submit, or appease behaviors—even long after the original danger has passed.

Why TIST WorksAccording to research from the Trauma Research Foundation and insights from Janina Fisher’s book "Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors", TIST’s strength lies in its respectful, non-pathologizing view of trauma responses. Instead of trying to suppress or “get rid of” symptoms, TIST helps clients befriend their inner protectors and find new ways to respond.

✅ Trauma is seen not as what’s wrong with you, but what happened to you—and how you survived it.
Neuroimaging studies show that trauma shuts down the brain’s prefrontal cortex (our thinking brain) and activates survival structures like the amygdala. TIST helps restore access to the thinking self by teaching clients how to unblend from dysregulated parts and ground themselves in the present.

A Success Story: A client came to me after years of anxiety, people-pleasing, and sudden emotional outbursts in her marriage. She had tried talk therapy before but always left feeling more aware of her issues and no more empowered to change them.

Using TIST, we began to identify the parts of Emma that were stuck in old survival roles:

• A Freeze part that numbed out during conflict
• A Submit part that said “yes” to everything out of fear
• A Fight part that protected her by pushing others away
  
  

We didn’t pathologize these parts. Instead, we listened to them. We gave them space to speak—and then we helped Emma learn how to comfort and unblend from them when they no longer served her.

Over time, Emma reported fewer panic episodes, improved communication with her husband, and—for the first time in her life—a sense of inner calm she hadn’t known was possible.
(*Name and details changed for privacy.)

Who Can Benefit from TIST?
TIST is effective for individuals who struggle with:

• Complex PTSD or childhood trauma
• Dissociation or feeling “out of body”
• Unexplained anxiety or reactivity
• Emotional overwhelm or sudden shutdowns
• Feeling like different “versions” of themselves take over
  
  

It’s especially powerful for clients who have tried other therapy methods but felt stuck or retraumatized by traditional exposure-based work.

Final ThoughtsThe beauty of TIST is that you don’t need to relive your trauma to heal from it. You don’t need to figure it all out at once. What you do need is a safe, compassionate space to explore what’s happening inside—and a guide who can help you reconnect with the self you may have lost along the way.

If you’ve felt fragmented, overwhelmed, or stuck in survival mode, there is hope. And there is help.

📍 I offer in-person sessions in Cumming, GA, and online therapy throughout Georgia and Indiana.
👉 Contact me today to learn how Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment might be the approach you’ve been searching for.

Resources

• Fisher, J. (2017). Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors.
• Trauma Research Foundation. www.traumaresearchfoundation.org
• Janina Fisher, Ph.D. www.janinafisher.com