Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a psychotherapeutic strategy that retrieves and treats several sub-personalities or families present in every individual’s cognitive framework. These sub-personalities are made up of wounded areas, painful feelings like anger and humiliation, and regions that attempt to assert influence and shield the individual from the suffering of those wounded spaces. The sub-personalities frequently conflict with one another and with one’s self Identity, an idea that explains self-assured, kindness, and complete being that dwells at everyone’s core. By altering the dynamics that cause conflict between the sub-personalities and the Self, IFS focuses on healing the damaged portions and reestablishing mental equilibrium and harmony.
Internal Family Systems is an effective, research-based psychotherapy approach. We think that the mind is naturally complex, which is advantageous. Its core Self is capable of healing and our inner parts hold valuable qualities that help us to become integrated and whole. In this therapy every aspect or what you say parts are welcome. It is a new, enlightening framework for comprehending and balancing the mind and, consequently, broader human systems one that can promote healing and makes the world a more sympathetic place.
IFA is on the frontline of a transition toward a more collaborative treatment strategy that draws on institutional wisdom from clients. It provides a dynamic therapeutic method that enables the therapist and client to establish a transformational connection in which healing can take place as well as a clear, non-pathologizing, and empowering understanding of human cognitive and emotional existence.
History
Psychotherapist Richard Schwartz flourished the Internal Family System Therapy. As a family therapist, Schwartz observed tendencies in the way clients described their inner selves: “What I heard often were descriptions of what they often termed their “parts”—the fragmented subpersonalities that existed within them,” Schwartz argues. The idea of the mind as a family and the components as members interacting with one another started to occur to him. IFS and the concept of the core Self were built on an examination of how these elements interact with one another.
Effectiveness of the therapy
Families, couples, and individuals can all be treated using IFS psychotherapy. It can successfully treat a range of problems and symptoms. These consist of:
Depression
Anxiety
Panic
Phobias
Eating disorders
Suicidal ideation
Trauma
Use of drugs
diseases of the body like rheumatoid arthritis
general health and efficiency
IFS may not be suitable for people with severe mental diseases like schizophrenia which include psychosis or paranoia. For such patients, saying that a person has “parts” may be counterproductive or even harmful.
Main Concept of IFS
It contains working with two major parts one is “Self” and the other is “Parts”
Self
The existence of the Self is the first fundamental tenet of IFS. The Self is the inborn part of each individual that represents the very core of who they are. It can never be distorted or shattered because it is pure and whole by nature. When someone is self-led, their system is balanced and every component is working in unison. The Self can occasionally be obscured when it blends with other parts. When this occurs, the first thing to do is to separate the Self from the merged components.
The 8 C’s of self-energy are indicators of being in Self.
- Courage
- Clarity
- Calmness
- Confidence
- Compassion
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Connectedness
When a person is in Self, they frequently speak about experiencing one or more of the aforementioned traits. The client can speak with their parts clearly in Self. The first step in starting to fix the system is accessing oneself.
Parts
The existence of parts is the second fundamental tenet of IFS. Each component, which is often referred to as a subpersonality or a family, has its own set of values, ideas, and emotions. They might not be the same age or gender as the client. Every component act with good intentions. There are only poor roles; there are no bad parts. A part will act out in an effort to defend the system when they feel threatened and don’t trust the Self. The behaviors that parts evoke are frequently severe or out of step with reality since they are either trapped in time or polarized with one another. When parts feel respected, understood, and able to trust themselves, the system as a whole function harmoniously. There are three main types of parts.
Exile
The parts that contain the most severe memories and emotions are the exiles. They are frequently among the newest components of the system. They have memories of being abused, neglected, made to feel ashamed, and so on. When a part’s trauma is so severe that other parts effectively shut them away to prevent the system from being overburdened, that part is said to be an exile. To keep exiles from becoming conscious, a tremendous amount of energy is required. The client may manifest as a younger version of exiled parts.
Manager
The system is actively protected by managers. Their objectives include being proactive and maintaining the system’s stability. Managers seek to maintain system control so that exiled components remain hidden from awareness. Most managers worry that the depth of the memories and emotions the exiled components are holding could overwhelm the system if they resurface. They frequently copy the Self so well that it seems as though they are the Self. Managers can appear as harsh parents or intrusive superiors.
Firefighter
The system’s responsive protectors are firefighters. When a banished component has gotten beyond the managers’ barriers, firefighters are called in. Their intention is to prevent the system from sensing the suffering that exiles endure. This may initially begin with less extreme behaviors like smoking, seeking out adrenaline-inducing activities, or working excessive hours. However, managers frequently hold a negative opinion of firemen due to the way they behave. Firefighters may resort to extreme measures like binge eating, self-harm, suicide attempts, or drug usage as a result of this polarity.
Unburdening Self
Exiles and other injured parts can only be healed through the unburdening process. In Self, the client patiently hears the experience of exile until the exile feels heard, loved, and welcomed. The client then offers the exile a second chance. The client follows the instructions given by the part, which informs the Self of his current needs.
When the part is prepared, the client Self assists the part in letting go of its burdens by ceremonially releasing the distressing memories, emotions, or beliefs. The client then invites the part into the current time and assists it in discovering a new function. The healed part is asked to meet the protective parts so that they can start developing fresh, constructive patterns of communication.
Therapists can assist patients in identifying their parts and letting go of the weight that each one of them is carrying. They can complete a six-step process to do this.
Find: Recognize the areas of your body and mind that require attention.
Focus: Attend to the important details.
Flesh: To give it more life, describe it and your personal experience with it.
Feel: Analyze your feelings towards this subject.
Befriend: Show interest in this part and acknowledge its presence.
Fear: Ask this part what it fears and what it would fear if its role were modified.
Patients can change how their parts work and bring about good change by learning to identify and explore these parts.
Goals
As IFS stated the core Self, which has not been destroyed, is who you truly are. By attaining the following three IFS objectives, a person’s parts can be cured, transformed, and better managed by the Self:
It releases the parts from their intolerable roles.
Regain faith in oneself.
Coordination and harmony between the Self and the parts will enable them to function as a cohesive unit under the Self’s leadership.
Criticism
IFS is mostly criticized for lacking scientific evidence to back up its efficacy. There is strong anecdotal support for the use of IFS to treat a variety of mental health disorders as well as other conditions. However, those assertions require further scientific investigation. Nevertheless, if treatment provides the client with the comfort and good change they are looking for, this critique might not matter to them personally.
IFS is criticized for failing to recognize the impact of genetics and biochemistry on mental health. The use of psychiatric drugs is not normally recommended by an IFS therapist because IFS has a fundamentally non-pathologizing approach to mental health. Critics of the lack of focus on those factors in IFS include mental health specialists who believe that mental health illnesses are at least somewhat biological in nature.