If you’ve found this website, you probably already have some familiarity with Internal Family Systems, but for those who’d find it helpful, here’s a brief synopsis of IFS basics:
Internal Family Systems is a non-pathologizing, evidence-based psychotherapeutic model that was developed by Richard Schwartz about forty years ago and has been evolving, under his guidance and with his blessing, ever since. IFS is complex, and can be understood and practiced in a wide range of ways, but it begins with two essential assumptions: We all have Parts, and we all have Self.
Parts
Each individual psyche is multifaceted, holding many possibilities and perspectives that function as “sub-personalities.” These parts of ourselves form a kind of ecosystem, and interact with one another very much like members of a family—sometimes collaborating, sometimes conflicting, sometimes ignoring each other. We generally experience them as our thoughts, emotions, body sensations or behaviors.
Each part has a place in our lives, each brings its own gifts and challenges, and all of them have good reasons for doing what they do, even when overwhelming experiences have caused some of them to take on extreme or disruptive roles or behaviors. Since many parts took on such roles in childhood, they will often think and behave in child-like ways, and they need loving attention and patience from us just as a child might.
In IFS, we get to know our parts, so we can see how each one contributes to our wholeness. As our parts feel truly known and understood, they can come to trust us and we can help ease their burdens. Without extreme burdens, they work better together and contribute their unique qualities and skills to make life more meaningful.
Self
We all have an essential Self at our core, with qualities such as curiosity, calm, clarity, compassion, creativity, courage, confidence and connectedness (the 8 Cs), and capacities such as presence, perspective, patience, persistence, and playfulness (the 5 Ps).
Self is not a part, but the system as a whole is a manifestation of Self, so all the parts within that system potentially have access to Self energy that can guide and support them. Self is also “more than the sum of our parts”—in fact, Self is even beyond any single individual.
In practical terms, Self is like a loving adult and parts are like children who feel safer, happier and more empowered in the presence of such an adult. Self energy can facilitate healthy relationships between parts, between an individual and the outside world, and between groups and organizations.
Sometimes Self can be obscured, or forced out of the internal system temporarily, but the capacity to restore Self energy, to know and to be this Self, exists in everyone, no matter how wounded we may be. When Self energy is able to be wholeheartedly present, our wounds do not define us, and our world is no longer defined by the worst that could happen to us.
The IFS model now includes many applications in a variety of different fields, including education, health care, social services, coaching and spiritual care.