I re-started therapy a while back & noted among my therapist’s credentials was listed IFS. Curious I did a bit of research, was drawn in & bought several books to get to know the modality in more detail. I’ve enjoyed my exploration & almost immediately felt a distinct inner re-shuffle of energies from integrating the model & doing several exercises given in one of the books written by its founder Richard Schwartz called No Bad Parts. A title that, if you let it percolate, carrys quite a revelatory momentum in its own right.
I’m left with a strong feeling that everyone would benefit from simply be aware of the model, after all it’s common parlance to casually speak of our willing versus unwilling parts for example, I have found understanding the full inner family layout to be been powerful.
It is a really great model with the caveat that it might not be helpful, is tangentially possibly harmful for the severely mentally ill particularly those currently suffering from psychosis. I’ve seen this stated clearly in many places when researching although I'm not sure I’d have been informed of that from just reading the books themselves.
It definitely crossed my mind during the exercises that at the heights of Bipolar or BPD psychosis there would not be enough access to what the system calls Self to carry a healing session successfully imho although there are many other bottom up, body first therapies that would help in that instance eg polyvagal, somatic experiencing, herbs & nutraceuticals. Further, both pwBipolar &/or BPD are not permanently in crisis & so value may well be had from IFS at other times.
In fact my first IFS book was Somatic Internal Family Systems by Susan McConnell so there is an active move to merge these top down cognitive practices with well established bottom up body work already underway, which is ideal.
When I did my psychotherapy training pre 2000 we learnt Fritz Perl’s famous Gestalt empty chair technique which I loved both experiencing & guiding. We also learnt guided visualisation techniques which could facilitate therapeutic inner exploration. It feels like IFS is the natural progression of these 2 old school psychotherapeutic practices combined.
A highly worthy tool with which to expand our own or a clients self awareness, inviting progressive re-integration of disparate feelings, energies & trauma back into a more stable, unified field, that which we were before traumas took possession of parts of us, quite literally in this model.
What I like about IFS is simply that it is another tool & method for noticing & working with emotional pain in the body by establishing a firm & growing footing in our calm, reasonable optimistic true core Self. This being not the neutral god/i observer of Buddhism & Non-Dual philosophy but rather Self in IFS is a growing presence, of self possession of the bodymind that is the calm, cheerful, central, loving conductor of the system as a whole.
Meeting the IFS model has given me a better footing in that Self, that I’d always been aware of but busy, noisy, frantic, scared, hostile, paranoid, needy energy embodied parts have had well habituated tendencies to take precedence over it at various times, with invariably less than helpful results.
If you feel drawn to learn about this helpful therapy model & further on to unburden your own self sabotaging & self defeating parts without the expense of a therapist I can recommend No Bad Parts by Richard C Schwartz & Somatic IFS by Susan McConnell.
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