Internal Family Systems (IFS): What It Is, Background, and Benefits

Internal family systems (IFS) is a psychotherapeutic model through which people are viewed as having a core Self surrounded by multiple parts. By helping people learn to harness the power of their core Self, they can help their clients heal the wounded, inner parts of themselves and become more connected both inwardly and outwardly

What Is IFS?

IFS explains the phenomenon in which people feel as though part of themselves wants something and another part doesn’t

It brings together the ideas of the plural mind and systems thinking
Systems thinking is rooted in biology
Individual people cannot be understood in isolation from their families
Every person has multiple parts that take on different roles due to trauma or interactional patterns

The Firefighters

They are the emergency protectors that step up to bat when the managerial guard is down and an exile surfaces

What Is Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy?

IFS therapy works to help clients identify and address the inner roots of conflict, manage symptoms that might arise, and achieve better connectedness and a greater sense of Self and well-being.

It is non-pathologizing, and parts are neither good nor bad.

The Potential Benefits of IFS Therapy

Increased feelings of calm

The Exiles

Exiles are parts that have experienced exploitation, rejection, and abandonment

They can be the memories and emotions from traumatic events or behaviors discouraged in a person’s external systems
When not tended to and treated, exiles can grow more extreme and seek to break away from their suppression

The Effectiveness of IFS

Available studies have demonstrated that it might be effective for treating people with depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other conditions

In a 2016 study, researchers found that IFS therapy was just as effective as CBT and IPT in reducing the symptoms of depression, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory
Another study published in 2013 in the Journal of Rheumatology compared the depression symptoms and experiences of pain between people with rheumatoid arthritis and those who received education about the condition and its symptoms
Both groups reported a reduction in depression symptoms

The Managers

Managers suppress the exiles

Thinker: value intellectualism and practical problem solving
Controller: value career ambition and wealth
Hypercritical and never satisfied
Denier: avoids interpersonal risk, negative feedback, and situations that could arouse unpleasant emotions

The History/Background of IFS

The IFS model was developed during the 1980s by Dr. Richard Schwartz

Based largely on his insights as a student working on an adolescent psychiatric unit, Schwartz believed that people could not change without addressing their environment
He developed IFS to teach people how to heal and integrate their separate and sometimes conflicting parts

Outlook

IFS therapy might help people who feel a sense of disconnection or conflict with themselves or others

The Self

The Self is the essence of a person, characterized by peace, presence, and pure joy.

Calmness, clarity, curiosity, compassion, confidence, courage, creativity, and connectedness are qualities that shine through when a person is in “Self-energy,” a state in which the Self is in charge.

How Does an IFS Session Work?

Therapists employ the five Ps to create safety for their clients: Presence, Patience, Persistence, Playfulness, Perspective, and IFS Therapy often employs mindfulness meditation during and between sessions to help clients separate the parts

IFS encourages Self-healing because it is the self’s job to heal a client’s parts, not the therapist’s.
In other psychotherapies, the therapist acts as a loving attachment figure for the client, but in IFS, the Self acts as that figure.