internal family systems

What is Internal Family Systems (IFS)

• One of the fastest growing approaches to psychotherapy.
• Developed over the past twenty years.
• Non pathologizing approach to healing.
• People heal themselves by tapping into their inherent inner resources and wisdom

Theory of Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

We are multifaceted, as we have different aspects to our personality. We may call them sides, parts, or facets. For example, you have a part that loves a person and a part that hates that person. Our parts  serve different functions for us. A lonely person may become workaholic. The workaholic part is his way of coping with his loneliness.  If this client is treated for workaholism and his loneliness is not taken care of, he would then figure out some other ways to suppress his feelings of loneliness. Treating the workaholism alone will offer a band-aid approach.

In the field of mental health, we often focus on the “symptom”. We try to attack the symptom leaving the root cause of the problem untapped. If you kill a weed by cutting it off, what will happen? It will grow back. So we need to get to the root of the weed, dig deep into the ground, and then pull it out.