Nobody Thinks Neglect Is Trauma… But It Is

In this powerful first episode of In Conversation with Janina Fisher: Wisdom Between Colleagues—Insights for Us All, Janina Fisher, PhD, is joined by longtime friend and colleague Ruth Cohn, MFT, for a deeply moving exploration of one of the most overlooked forms of trauma: neglect.Ruth shares the origins of her groundbreaking work on neglect—what she calls “the trauma of nothing”—and invites listeners to rethink the invisible wounds carried by those who, on the surface, report no abuse or violence. Together, Janina and Ruth illuminate how missing experiences, in addition to overt events, shape our relationship templates, emotional regulation, and sense of self.This episode touches on:The origins of Ruth’s clinical curiosity about neglectWhy “nothing happened to me” can signal a profound traumaIntergenerational transmission of disconnection and diffuse attentionGendered vulnerability in attachment and emotional developmentThe survival strategy of caregiving in children with unmet needsThe importance of attuning to implicit memory and early relational absenceA compassionate reframing of “avoidant” clients and men in therapyWith warmth, clinical insight, and decades of experience between them, Ruth and Janina challenge the field to hold space for what has too often been dismissed: nothingness that shaped everything.