Internal Family System Therapy

Internal Family Systems Therapy is an evidence-based approach that assumes each individual possesses a variety of sub-personalities, or “parts,” and attempts to get to know each of these parts better to achieve healing. The IFS model emphasizes the network of relationships between parts as parts may not be able to experience a change in isolation. This therapy was developed in the early 1990s by Richard Schwartz.
This type of therapy was developed in the early 1990s by Richard Schwartz, who developed the approach after listening to people in therapy speak about inner parts within themselves. As a young family therapist, Schwartz had received training in systems thinking and family therapy theory, and he believed he was truly able to listen to the individuals in his care once he set aside his preconceived ideas of therapy and the human mind.
While the concept of multiple intrapsychic entities was not new (Sigmund Freud posited the existence of the id, ego, and superego), Schwartz’s training in systems thinking prompted him to seriously consider the interactions and relationships between these internal entities. He found internal parts to play common but dynamic roles: the relationships between parts could be changed if an individual intervened carefully and respectfully. Schwartz began to visualize the human mind as an internal family and began to apply in treatment the techniques he had learned as a family therapist.
Who this course is for:
Therapists and students who wants to learn about different therapy approaches