Internal Family Systems Therapy

I first heard of Internal Family Systems theory from another book and found that I connected with this type of therapy immediately. I then ordered this book and found that it was easy to understand and yet had a profound theoretical basis that I could apply not only to my clients but to my own life as well. This book gave a clear and convincing view of IFS. I strongly recommend it for students, therapists, and social workers who are interested in both systems theory and the intrapsychic realm of therapy.

This is an overlooked work that should be on the popular self help as well as the professional's shelf. Dr. Schwartz has created an excellent synthesis of family therapy with traditional analysis techniques. The result is a simple, easily understandable but powerful framework for examining the individual psyche. While the writing style is dry and pedantic, the approach is brilliantly simple and easily applied. Without knocking the quick fixes of popular psychology, a lot of people should put down the best seller with the catchy title and read this book.

Richard Schwartz clearly explains his therapeutic model of working with sub-personalities (parts) in a way that empowers the client to lead their lives from their Self instead of having one or more of their 'parts' run the show! Although I have intuitively been working this way in a gestalt framework, his model gives many guidelines to make this process smoother and avoid pitfalls in this type of work. An excellent guide.

Through personal application of the therapies described in this book, I found it to be profoundly enlightening. It shed bright lights on the origins of my own thoughts and self-talk. Experiencing the benefits of the therapies, seeing that they work, it provided the best form of teaching to me as to how it can be a valuable resource for helping one's self and for helping others. Having specialized in pastoral counseling while earning my Masters of Divinity degree, this book has done more to help me understand the multiple (and valuable) personalities all persons develop from childhood to adulthood and then how to use these therapies in a counseling setting. Its methods provide such a positive way of looking at ourselves, at other individuals, and at family dynamics. The concept of internal family systems therapy makes so much sense that I hope more therapists and counselors discover it, utilize it, and recommend it.

Internal Family Systems Therapy by Richard C. Schwartz represents the author's attempt at documenting a fascinating journey into the inner lives of clients. His model uniquely applies systems thinking to internal process, seeing our inner lives as yet another level of human systems. As I read this book, I was taken aback by how psychodynamics suddenly became coherent to me in a way that made intuitive and intellectual sense. Schwartz takes the reader through the development of the IFS model, and demonstrates how the therapy emerged from his interactions with his clients. He is successful in describing the step-by-step process of IFS therapy that is tied directly to the theory.The IFS model assumes that we all are "multiple personalities", organized by a "self" that is compassionate, curious, and expansive. These sub-personalities, or "parts", are all good and are with us from birth. They are kept in balance and harmony through self-leadership. When the self is threatened by trauma or devaluation from the outside world, the parts protect the self from harm; in doing so, they also lose trust in the self's ability to provide leadership and safety. In "exiling" the self for its own protection, these parts become extreme and polarized; the parts that were hurt carry the burdens of pain and suffering ("exiles") that other parts (i.e., "managers" and "firefighters") try to keep out of conscious awareness through various roles and operations. This becomes a recursive system which feeds upon itself to create symptoms when a person is under stress. These parts, which have been forced into extreme roles, are often identified by mental health professionals as symptoms or "psychopathology". The IFS model assumes that the parts that have taken these extreme roles, when released from these roles, become non-extreme, valuable, and helpful to the person. The IFS model posits that through restoration of trust in the self by these extreme parts, the system's balance and harmony is restored. IFS therapy is a delicate, yet powerful process of restoring the Self in a position of leadership and of healing the wounded parts via the processes of "witnessing" and "unburdening".After reading this book, I have witnessed Dr. Schwartz work with clients and have incorporated the principles in my own practice. My experience has been that most clients respond extremely well to the model and heal quickly. As a therapist, I have also grown personally and professionally. Dr. Schwartz has documented a major new innovation in the field through this book. It receives my highest endorsement!