What Is Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

By Lenka Bilik

Have you ever thought ‘part of me wants to do it… but part of me really doesn’t’, ‘I don’t know why I sabotage myself’, or ‘I feel like I’m fighting with myself inside’? 

IFS is a therapy model developed in the 1980s by psychologist Dr Richard Schwartz. It’s based on the idea that the mind is made up of different ‘parts’, each with its own feelings, beliefs and role – like an internal family. 

How did IFS come about?  

IFS didn’t start as a theory about the mind - it grew directly out of therapy with people struggling with eating disorders. Dr Schwartz worked with clients who had bingeing, purging and restrictive behaviours. In his work with these clients, Dr Schwartz noticed when they focused inside, they described different parts of themselves within the complexity of the eating disorder. Over hundreds of therapy sessions, Dr Schwartz noted patterns and grouped these into three main types of parts: Managers, Firefighters and Exiles. 

How is IFS used today? 

IFS as an evidence-based psychotherapy is still widely used today with eating disorders, body image distress and food struggles, but it has also proven effective in trauma, complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), burnout, stress, depression, relationship patterns and addiction.  

What can I expect in IFS therapy? 

IFS understands that each of our parts has a positive intention for our overall system and the difficulty mostly arises when we try to suppress our inner parts, push them away and ignore them. IFS therapy helps clients understand their parts and to lead their life from a place of core Self, which underlies all these parts, instead of from fear, shame, or urgency. 

In therapy, clients may be invited to notice which parts may be present within their challenges and experiences, and collaboratively working to understand these parts’ function. All of this work is conducted with compassion, curiosity and safety. 

Additional resources: 

Australian Psychological Society – IFS: https://psychology.org.au/for-members/publications/inpsych/2022/winter-2022/internal-family-systems-therapy