Trauma and Internal Family Systems Treatment

Are you a trauma survivor? A novel therapy approach that might work for you is called Internal Family Systems or IFS. This treatment identifies and addresses multiple sub-personalities or families within each person’s mental system. These parts may include wounded parts and painful emotions such as anger or grief. Often parts will try to control and protect the person from the pain of the wounded parts. The parts are often in conflict with each other and with one’s core self, a concept that describes the confident, compassionate, whole person that is at the core of every individual.

The core self is characterized by what IFS calls the 8C's: compassion, curiosity, clarity, creativity, calm, confidence, courage, and connectedness. As opposed to many other models, IFS holds that everyone has access to these qualities at their core, and they don't need to be created or built by the therapy.

IFS focuses on healing the wounded parts and restoring mental balance and harmony by changing the dynamics that create discord among the sub-personalities and the self.

IFS was developed by psychologist Richard Schwartz. In his work as a family therapist, Schwartz began to observe patterns in how people described their inner lives. What Richard heard repeatedly were descriptions of what people often called their "parts"—the conflicted parts that resided within them. He began to conceive of the mind as a family, and the parts as family members interacting with one another. Exploring how these components functioned with one another was the foundation for IFS and the idea of the core Self.

Most of Heartwork Counseling Center’s therapists have training in IFS. Connect with a therapist today to begin your healing journey.