What is “IFS”?

You might have heard the acronym “IFS” tossed around recently, maybe by friends, coworkers, or family members. This way of approaching therapy has exploded in popularity over the past few years, and for good reason. But what is it, exactly?

IFS stands for Internal Family Systems, and it’s a type of therapy that believes we are made up of many different parts that hold many different roles, and those parts interact with internal and external cues that dictate how you show up in relationships and the world itself. The “Self” is the core, most authentic version of you, and this type of therapy promotes healing and trust in that Self. There are also 3 main types of parts: managers, firefighters, and exiles. Managers protect you by “managing” a situation to avoid something that might bring you deep pain. Firefighters are parts that leap into action when you’re triggered by something - think about reaching for substances or sex or food when you’re activated. Both of those parts work together to keep an exile from emerging and flooding you with pain or memories of trauma. An exile is a wounded and often younger part that is hurting and hiding, but controls more of our actions, emotions, and thoughts than we know.

IFS asks you to turn inward and explore your parts system, to understand and befriend some of these parts that are no longer serving you so you can help them retire and allow new parts and patterns to emerge in its place. It also asks you to face fears of what might happen should an exile emerge, or if those managers and firefighters aren’t present anymore.

There are many benefits of this type of therapy: it gives you a deeper understanding of yourself, promotes self compassion, prepares you for emotional challenges in the future, and helps you view symptoms like depression, anxiety, and struggles with “addiction” as normal reactions to stressors or trauma, rather than a diagnosis.

If you’re interested in IFS, this directory is a great place to start the search for a trained therapist: https://ifs-institute.com/practitioners