Lesson 2: The Path

Welcome to a new paradigm!

Most of us think of ourselves as one person, but the truth is we are multitudes. We all have parts. There is the motivated part who pulls us out of bed and gets us to work, to the gym, or wherever our ambitions may lead. The playful part who gets down on the floor with our kids or pets. The angry part who honks when someone cuts us off in traffic. Having parts is normal. It doesn’t mean we have multiple personality disorder or schizophrenia. Our parts help us move through the world.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) refers to the family of parts inside us all. Just like our external families, there are parts in each of us who tend to manage and organize plans, parts who are quick to react, and sensitive, emotional parts. As we see in our own families, some parts get along well, others are often in conflict, and some are even exiled.

In their natural states, all parts hold positive intentions and serve to support our system in different ways. However, as we move through the world, our parts can become burdened by our experiences (especially traumatic ones). These burdens shift our parts into more extreme roles, pulling us out of balance and producing symptoms such as anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress, etc.

IFS approaches healing not by stomping out parts of us as if they were bad or unwelcome, but rather by trusting in the positive intentions of each part and offering healing to the burdens they hold. As we heal our burdens, our parts naturally shift back into more helpful roles within our systems and we experience a greater sense of well being.

In the video above, the founder of IFS, Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., offers an overview of IFS. Check it out!