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I had the distinct pleasure of being introduced to the Internal Family Systems model of psychotherapy in 2015 at a Trauma Symposium I was attending in Boston. I was in graduate school and remember listening to the speaker as he talked about this “newer” model of psychotherapy that was revolutionizing the way counselors were working with clients. He described, in simple terms and with much enthusiasm, how counselors were working with what IFS refers to as client’s “parts” in a way that helped them to create harmony and balance in their internal system. He shared clips of the Disney movie Inside Out, which had just been released and was based on the IFS model, to demonstrate IFS’ view of how parts live and work inside of us to help us navigate the world. And to demonstrate that when our parts become overloaded with stress and traumatic experiences their efforts to protect us can cause us distress.
Among the many psychological theories and models I had been introduced to at this point in my education, this one clicked in a way the others had not. It was exciting! I found myself reading books on it and watching video demonstrations of it. I found an IFS counselor for myself and put my name in the lottery system for the three level training to become an IFS Certified Counselor. I waited (and waited!), but the demand for the training was so high (and still is) that I did not have the opportunity to be trained in IFS until this past year when I took an online course that the IFS Institute developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the online training is not as comprehensive or intensive as the in-person training, it certainly provides the skills and tools needed to work with this impactful healing modality.
While I have certainly guided clients to work with their parts and “go inside” to access their internal system prior to this training, I am excited to dive in deeper now as an ‘IFS Informed Counselor”. I look forward to guiding clients toward an increased awareness of their internal system and in furthering their journey toward self-acceptance and self-love. IFS is a tool I use daily in my own self-work and that I know my clients can use in a similar way, well beyond the time that we are working together in a therapeutic relationship.
“At its core, IFS is a loving way of relating internally (to your parts) and
externally (to the people in your life), so in that sense, IFS is a life practice…
It’s something you can do on a daily, moment-to-moment basis—at any time”
Dick Schwartz (Phd), Founder of Internal Family Systems
Introduction to Internal Family Systems (IFS):
The majority of people reference “parts” of themselves in conversation and in counseling. They may say a part of them feels one way but another part feels a different way. A few examples of this are: “A part of me wants to take this job and another part is very resistant to it”; “A part of me feels a lot of shame for what happened and feels like a bad person but I know I am a good person overall”; and, “I have had this ache in my heart every time I think about the loss of my mother but also feel a sense of relief”.
The founder of IFS, Dick Schwartz (PhD), was a family therapist who began to notice his clients talking about “parts” of themselves that were in complex relationships with one another much like they talked about their complex relationships with family members, spouses and friends. He was fascinated by this and began working with his client’s internal “part” relationships much like he would with their external relationships with family, spouses and friends. Over time, as his clients built relationships with their parts, he began to hear them talking about uncovering what felt to them to be their “true self”. He came to see and understand that his clients were not the sum of their parts, but instead there was a foundational core in all of them, a seat of consciousness he came to refer to as the “Self”.
Dr. Schwartz found that the more he worked with his client’s parts in relation to their Self, the better their internal system functioned. His clients were reporting less of the negative symptoms and behaviors they had sought therapy for (i.e., anxiety, relationship issues). As the work progressed, he discovered that his client’s internal systems functioned at their best when the leadership exhibited by their “Self” was clearly designated, respected, fair and capable, just as when families, companies and nations are led in this way. He witnessed what IFS calls “Self Leadership” or “Self-Energy”, when the “Self” cares for and leads discussions for its parts, and how this translated into his clients presenting with a sense of calm, continuity and integration.
It is from Dr. Schwartz’s work with his clients that the IFS model of therapy was born. And, thirty years later, it has grown to be one of the most sought-after, effective modalities in counseling. IFS is an evidenced-based modality, meaning it is supported by research, with thousands of counselors being trained in it each year. And the future of IFS, led by the IFS Institute (https://ifs-institute.com), is a proactive approach to mental health. It includes working toward having IFS included in the social-emotional learning curriculum of our nation’s elementary and secondary school systems. Curriculum that would teach children and young adults how to work with their parts and become “Self-led”, with the hope of preventing mental health symptoms and behavioral challenges. This is exciting and gives me hope for the future of mental health in light of the current mental health crisis we are facing.
It is important to note before moving forward that the core concepts of IFS are not new to the field of psychology. They are simply presented and used in a new way that is proving to be impactful. Founders of psychology, including Freud and Yung, referenced parts using terms such as the id/ego/super-ego and archetypes. While other psychology theorists referred to parts as sub-personalities. IFS incorporates these and other key concepts to psychology, including attachment theory. It can be seen as attachment theory taken inside. For more on IFS’s evolution, please refer to: https://ifs-institute.com/resources/articles/evolution-internal-family-systems-model-dr-richard-schwartz-ph-d.
Basic Assumptions of the IFS Model:
The basic assumptions of the IFS model are as follows:
All human beings are already healthy and whole.
All human beings are multiple. It is the nature of the mind to be subdivided into subpersonalities or “parts”.
Everyone has a “Self”, the natural leader and healing entity in our internal system.
The non-extreme intention of each “part” is something positive for the individual. There are no "bad" parts and the goal of IFS therapy is not to eliminate parts but instead to help them find their non-extreme, positive roles.
Additional Information on the Basic Assumptions of the IFS Model:
Below is some additional information on the basic assumptions of the model. I list this information separate from the basic assumptions themselves so as to not muddy the water while initially introducing the assumptions.
The basic assumption that all human beings are already healthy and whole is of great importance as the long-standing tendency of our society is to view individuals seeking and engaging in mental health treatment as unhealthy and abnormal. Clients are given psychological diagnoses (i.e., depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder) that they often overly identify with (i.e., “I am depressed”, “I am obsessive and compulsive”) as opposed to viewing symptoms they are experiencing as parts of who they are. While there is no doubt that diagnoses are necessary for external systems, such as insurance claims, and can be of benefit as an organizational tool for mental health providers to guide treatment (i.e., best practices for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), humans themselves are not a sum of their symptoms. They are experiencing symptoms that make them not feel healthy and whole and the intention of the mental health treatment they engage in is to get them back to their natural state of health and wholeness.
The basic assumption that all human beings are multiple and made up of “parts” is not a new concept, however the way IFS sees and utilizes this concept is new. IFS does not view our parts as a fragmentation of an original self that results from our experiences of trauma or wounding, as other theories of psychology do. IFS views us as entering the world with parts of varied talents, resources and gifts that are intended to help us in life. And that some of these parts become wounded by negative events and lose sight of their talents, resources and gifts due to a need that emerges in them to protect us from being wounded again.
The basic assumption that all humans have a “Self” that is intended to lead and be a healing entity in our internal system is also not new to psychological theory and is embedded in many spiritual practices. What IFS recognizes and focuses on in a different way is the idea that the Self does not act as the internal leader or healing entity of the system in most people because it is crowded and covered up by our parts. A good way to demonstrate this concept is using a visual of the sun covered up by clouds. If you picture someone’s Self as the sun and their parts as clouds, the Self is most often clouded over by our parts. In IFS, this concept is referred to as being “blended” with our parts. When we become blended with our parts we feel the beliefs and burdens of the part or parts we are blended with and lose touch with the Self. An example of this would be if an individual’s Self is blended with a part that believes all relationships are unsafe due to past negative experiences in relationships. And this individual sees nothing but danger as it relates to relationships and experiences nothing but fear and avoidance of relationships. In this example, the Self is not leading the system. The Self’s inherently positive belief that we are deserving of love and that love is worth the risk of being hurt again is clouded over by, or blended with, the part that believes all relationships are unsafe.
The basic assumption that there are no “bad” parts is of great importance as IFS is not a model of subtraction. IFS does not work to get rid of parts but to simply “unblend” from them so the Self can lead. IFS works toward love and acceptance of all parts and restoring our parts back to their original intention of helping our internal system function in a healthy manner.
Goals of the IFS Model:
To achieve harmony and balance within a client’s internal system.
To differentiate and elevate the Self so it can be an effective leader in a client’s internal system.
For the Self to be in the lead of the client’s internal system, with the client’s parts providing input to the Self that respects the leadership and ultimate decision-making of the Self.
To unburden the client’s parts’ negative beliefs, feelings and sensations and free them from the extreme roles they have taken on. For all parts to exist and lend talents that reflect their non-extreme, positive intention.
Additional Information on the Goals of IFS Therapy:
Below is some additional information on the goals of the model. I list this information separate from the goals themselves so as to not muddy the water while initially introducing the goals.
To achieve harmony and balance within the internal system, we work to become Self-led. In IFS, one becomes Self-led when an individual’s parts feel loved by the Self and trust the Self’s leadership. Note: You will learn about the process of becoming Self-led in the ‘How the IFS Model Works’ section to come.
Differentiating and elevating the client’s Self from their parts makes space for their Self to emerge as the natural leader and healing entity of their internal system. It is the unblending process that allows us to access and live in “Self-Energy” and to respond to our environment from a place of Self as opposed to reacting to it from our parts. Note: You will learn more about the process of unblending in the ‘How the IFS Model Works’ section to come.
Once we are Self-led, and we no longer feel dominated by our part’s former beliefs, feelings and sensations, we live in a space where our parts are healthy enough to work with (i.e., dialog with) our Self to make healthy choices and decisions. A way to illustrate this would be that the Self is firmly in the driver’s seat but is open to back seat driving suggestions made by the parts. The Self has ultimate authority over how to drive and where the car is headed and the parts respect this. This is in contrast to when we are blended with our parts and it feels like our parts have taken over the wheel of the car while we (the Self) was driving. Note: You will learn more about the Self, being Self-led and parts in the ‘Self’ and ‘Parts’ sections to come.
“Unburdening” negative beliefs, feelings and sensations that parts carry involves the healing and release of beliefs such as “I am worthless, unlovable and undeserving”, feelings including shame, sadness, fear or loneliness and sensations such as emptiness, hollowness or being untethered. And the unburdening of these beliefs, feelings and sensations allows parts that are working to protect us to let go of their strong protective stance and take on a more positive helping role in the system. Note: You will learn more about the process of unburdening in the ‘How the IFS Model Works’ section to come.
Benefits of the IFS Model:
At its core, IFS is a loving way of relating internally (to your parts) and externally (to the people in your life). Some of the many benefits of IFS include:
As we decrease the reactivity of our internal system we have less reactivity and more choice in how we respond to ourselves and others.
As we make positive changes in our internal relationships, among parts and between parts and Self, we will experience positive change in our external relationships. Once we establish a loving and compassionate relationship with our internal system, this easily translates to one’s partner, children, parents, friends, co-workers and strangers.
In IFS instead of looking at external incidents that happen with others as happening to us, we look at our own internal relationships (i.e., how our parts are responding and relating to one another). As we heal those internal relationships, we take that healing out into our external relationships. And, what happens in our inner world has tremendous implications for what happens in our outside world.
IFS has benefits beyond other popular models of therapy such as Cognitive Behavioral Theory (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Theory (DBT), as it works to uncover the root of our challenges which often stem from very young parts of us that have been pushed down and covered up for a long time. As we build the relationship among parts and between parts and the Self, we uncover what IFS refers to as our “exile” parts. These are young, wounded parts that have been pushed down and need to be healed in order for the system to function properly. This contrasts CBT and DBT which can be effective for certain symptoms and situations (i.e., re-framing what these models view as “irrational thoughts” in order to self-regulate, often when an individual is highly dysregulated) but which does not get to the root of the challenge.
IFS regards the body as well as the mind, it is a somatic modality. Somatic modalities honor that our body provides us with a ton of information and that the connection between mind and body is of great importance to our healing in counseling and our overall wellness. IFS works to develop and restore awareness of the body, as protective parts can block our body awareness and cause us to dissociate from sensation in our body. Leaders in the field of trauma and Polyvagal Theory such as Bessell van der Kolk (MD), author of The Body Keeps the Score, and Stephen Porges (PhD), author of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagel Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies, endorse the use of IFS. They see IFS’ use of unblending as a tool for promoting self-regulation of our autonomic nervous system, the system that controls our stress (fight/flight/freeze) response.
IFS is easily integrated into daily life. It is something any individual can learn to do at any time. It can be done on the spot, in the moment. I like the example Jack Engler (psychotherapist in Boston) gives of how he uses IFS to help him overcome fears around public speaking in his “Introduction to IFS” chapter of the Internal Family Systems New Dimensions book. And how Alanis Morissette describes her view of the model and how it changed her way of being in the Forward of the book No Bad Parts. I have included these as an Appendix at the end of this packet.
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