Welcoming all parts with Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)

IFS has been used with people who experience dissociation, flashbacks, addictions, eating disorders, panic attacks, depression, anxiety, phobias, suicidal, ideation, psychosis, suicidality, chronic pain and stress. This being said, suitability for IFS does not depend on which diagnosis you have, or whether you have one at all. IFS may be a particularly good fit for people who reject the concept of psychiatric diagnoses, and wish to understand what is going on for them in other ways.

In a nutshell, IFS involves mapping out our internal worlds, identifying parts of ourselves we would like to understand better or work with, and helping different parts of ourselves shed burdens (painful emotions or beliefs) they carry or extreme roles they have taken on. IFS is heavy on consent, in that we will not move deeper into your internal world or access more vulnerable parts of yourself without permission, both from you and the parts of you that work hard to protect the system from harm. Part of the work of IFS is getting to know what the parts that protect you are afraid of happening if we take a closer look at your vulnerabilities, and working to address these fears in good faith.

IFS is best for people who are not actively in danger, who can experiment with vulnerability without becoming unsafe, and who aren’t dependent on others (e. g. family) for survival, but find that the emotions, beliefs and behaviours they developed when they this wasn’t the case have stuck around. IFS is often a good fit for people who feel pulled in different directions (or who feel empty and pulled in no direction at all), or who feel out of control at times and at the mercy of their thoughts, feelings or impulses.

IFS can help us to develop more compassionate, trusting and loving relationships with different parts of our inner system, including parts that historically might have scared, confused or frustrated us, that we might have tried hard to push out or get rid of, or that we never imagined we would accept. Using the IFS approach, we might shed painful emotions and beliefs, including those that may have entered our system via trauma or attachment injuries. As a result, we may find we are less susceptible to triggers, such that there is little call for our system to respond to triggers in extreme ways, or to work hard to avoid our being triggered at all. Ultimately, IFS can help us access and capitalise on our unique and human strengths, and take on a leadership role in our own lives.