Therapy
What You Need to Know About Internal Family Systems Therapy
IFS expert Emma Redfern offers insight about this intriguing style of therapy
Posted December 18, 2024 Reviewed by Davia Sills
Key points
- IFS focuses on releasing parts from their extreme roles, making new ways of being.
- IFS is often associated with trauma treatment, but skilled IFS therapists use it on a range of problems.
- People seeking IFS therapists should know what questions to ask about the therapist's skill level.
To some, internal family systems, or IFS, may only be familiar as a therapy anacronym for another approach to trauma treatment. To the more concrete-minded, it sounds wonky that there’s a “family” inside that can be worked with. Recently, some new therapist supervisees stumbled upon IFS as they exposed themselves to different therapy approaches and expressed intrigue and confusion about the style.
Thankfully, my friendly colleague Emma Redfern, a leading IFS psychotherapist, author, podcaster, and educator in England, was able to offer insight to curious minds.
“Parts” and “Self” are central components of IFS. What are they, and how are they used in the therapy process?
In IFS, the term “parts” is used for the innate inner subpersonalities that either manage our daily lives proactively or reactively or hold our exiled painful memories and distress.
Self is the transformational relational resource inside each of us, which is commonly obscured by parts.
The processes and goals of IFS are about bringing the Self and parts into a relationship in the inner world for the purposes of freeing parts from extreme roles, achieving greater inner balance, harmony, transformation, and healing, as well as an increase in Self-leadership inside and out in the world.
How does IFS stand out from other popular modern therapies like CBT?
The paradigm shift IFS offers is to place the normal multiplicity of the human mind as central. It also places as central the presence of an inner relational resource, “Self” (capital S), lying just beneath or behind the parts. IFS offers tried and tested ways to bring Self and parts together, and that’s how much of the transformation happens.
Does IFS go deeper than mere symptom reduction as the goal?
In general, though, it’s not a time-limited approach hyper-focused on symptom reduction. The goals of IFS tend to be evolving a new way of being over time, during the process of which, symptoms begin to wane. There are four goals of IFS:
- Freeing parts from their extreme roles, they may return to their natural states
- Restoring trust in the Self
- Achieving balance, harmony, and wholeness
- Becoming more Self-led inside and in the external world
Sometimes, meaningful transformation can happen in as little as a single session. This might occur when, for example, the person releases a long-held debilitating phobia or a wounded part is unburdened, leading to better functioning. The entire IFS protocol, however, may not be necessary for change. I’ve had some success working with procrastination-type issues without working in depth with exiles; it can be enough to negotiate with protectors.
We often hear about IFS in relation to PTSD work. Is this the main population, or is it suitable for any struggle?
It is not just for trauma. In fact, its emergence began when Richard Schwartz was specializing in eating disorders. Ultimately, IFS is “non-pathologizing,” equally a practice for living, which can mislead people into thinking it’s magic and can be used by anyone for anything. IFS therapy is only as good as the professional offering it; it is not something one can really practice competently after a one-day seminar. People who learn IFS tend to find that, in time, transformation results, whatever the presenting problem is.
Are IFS principles or skills ever integrated with other styles?
We consider IFS to be hugely equipping and to not need bilateral stimulation added or integrated. Dick Schwartz regularly talks about IFS not needing additional skills like grounding techniques as the Self has a huge window of tolerance.
That said, others may find aspects of IFS useful to integrate into their foundational practice, especially when therapy is stuck, and negotiation with parts might be useful. Also, accessing our own Self-energy is beneficial, whatever style of therapy is offered, or in life in general. Physiotherapists, yoga teachers, and parents can bring Self-energy and curiosity about parts to their work and lives, which is the basis for a book I co-edited called Freeing Self: IFS Beyond the Therapy Room.
What is one myth you’d like to bust about IFS?
That anyone using “parts language” is doing IFS, even if they’ve not been trained in it or practiced it. Sure, they might be accessing some of the potential of IFS, but in its entirety, the Steps of Healing are hugely beneficial, and that takes therapist Self-energy, which involves the practitioner relating with their own parts, unburdening their system, etc.
What should practitioners wanting to transition to IFS know?
The professional needs to review where they already stand as a practitioner and what is important to how they practice. I wrote a book called Transitioning to Family Systems Therapy: A Companion for Therapists and Practitioners (Routledge, 2023), which includes guidance on discovering if they are someone who already resonates with an IFS mind frame.
A central question is whether they can see themselves as a secondary attachment figure to the client’s Self, preferring a more transformational approach, or whether they prefer practicing counteractively as in cognitive-behavioral work. They must also discover their own parts that are likely to embrace or interfere with learning IFS.
As with learning any style formally, there is reading, receiving ongoing training, watching others practice IFS, and having their own IFS therapy. Ultimately, they’ll need to be prepared for a deconstruction or reconstruction process of learning or being if they want to really get to grips with all IFS has to offer rather than just learning a few techniques.
What questions should patients have for therapists claiming IFS practice?
Like any therapy modality, checking fit, pace of work, informed consent, and feeling “safe enough” are vitally important. It’s also important to know whether they’re “IFS-informed,” such as having a casual education in IFS versus formal training and IFS being their primary modality. People certified in IFS will have their work reviewed and assessed by at least two qualified and more experienced IFS professionals, so it is a “gold standard,” according to the IFS Institute. Someone with a two-day online course on IFS might call themselves IFS-informed and offer “parts work,” and the client may not know they aren’t going to be offered anything more.
Disclaimer: The material provided in this post is for informational purposes only and not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any illness in readers or people they know. The information should not replace personalized care or intervention from an individual’s provider or formal supervision if you’re a practitioner or student.
