Internal Family Systems (therapy model)

[heartlikealion]

Is anyone familiar with this? Curious what your thoughts are. 

I’ve heard conflicting things on how we are supposed to view the parts. I was about to buy an Amazon book and one of the reviews made me do a double take. It’s not available in any local library, though I could possibly place a request. 
 

My knee jerk reaction is “why are they referring to it like it’s got scientific backing? It sounds crazy.” 

[Melissa Louise]

Yeah, I've heard of it. It's a form of psychotherapy. It's a bit - idk - not the right language for me.

'Evidence based' is interesting. 

Jonathan Shedler (psychotherapist) has written some good stuff exploring the evidence base of psychotherapy. Limits and otherwise. It's a bit complicated for me. Evidence base for most of psychology is murky. 

I don't think there is any more evidence for this form of psychotherapy than other model ( but that also includes the gold standard, CBT, which turns out maybe not to be so good long term?)

In all forms of therapy, the therapeutic alliance matters more than the manual. 

 

 

[heartlikealion]

I’ve always heard of CBT but none of my therapists explored it with me. Or it wasn’t given a name if we applied it at some point. 

In IFS you could be tense, feel it manifested in your back, then talk to this “part.” I heard conflicting things as to if you’re addressing this part as a separate entity or not. That’s what’s bothersome to me. 

[Melissa Louise]

6 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

I’ve always heard of CBT but none of my therapists explored it with me. Or it wasn’t given a name if we applied it at some point. 

In IFS you could be tense, feel it manifested in your back, then talk to this “part.” I heard conflicting things as to if you’re addressing this part as a separate entity or not. That’s what’s bothersome to me. 

I'd think the addressing would be the important bit, rather than whether you conceptualize it as part of you or a separate entity, 'Back'. 

[kirstenhill]

I knew someone who was in training to offer this form of therapy a few years ago. It seemed he could gain a certification for this form of therapy without having other qualifications (he had no college level coursework in psychology or any health field).  That makes me a bit leery - I would definitely investigate the qualifications of any practitioners of this style of therapy.  This guy's personal life was a mess which made me doubt the entire method, but I realize there are probably other mental health practicioners who are a mess personally and can still function well professionally.   

[heartlikealion]

1 hour ago, kirstenhill said:

I knew someone who was in training to offer this form of therapy a few years ago. It seemed he could gain a certification for this form of therapy without having other qualifications (he had no college level coursework in psychology or any health field).  That makes me a bit leery - I would definitely investigate the qualifications of any practitioners of this style of therapy.  This guy's personal life was a mess which made me doubt the entire method, but I realize there are probably other mental health practicioners who are a mess personally and can still function well professionally.   

That doesn’t shock me too much. I went to an EFT course a long time ago. I can’t remember if it was for certification but my dad has some certifications in things (I think EFT and The Body Code and he’s doing this other thing now with sounds). 

She’s a genuine counselor, has a profile online etc. 

When I point blank asked if the back, for example, was to be seen literally as another entity, I was told no. But read the book review where a guy says otherwise. I’m sorry but yes it sorta matters to me. Like asking how your arm is feeling? It feels nuts. 
 

 

[Ceilingfan]

I find that a lot of therapy feels nuts, and it only works if I take it as metaphor, or as a way in but not THE way in. Like, EMDR is super popular, and I'm pretty sure it's pseudoscience - just a fancy form of semi-hypnosis for trauma processing, for which you could use literally any distraction technique and process the trauma in a similar way. But if I want to do some similar type of trauma processing and I can only find someone who does EMDR, meh, good enough, I'll pretend it's the bilateral eye movements that are doing the magic.

And for IFS - like, I talk about "the part of me that wishes I could go to the beach" or "my depressed side says stay in bed today" or whatever. So I can view the therapist who thinks of that "part" language as a bit more literal as just someone who is using a language I can share, even if they're meaning something a bit more concrete than I do when I use the language.

My Jungian guy has all kids of frankly nuts ideas about dreams and the unconscious, and he believes them quite fervently. I tend to see them more as a way in, like free association or art or inkblots would be, and he knows that I feel that way, but it doesn't keep us from doing the work - we just both acknowledge that I'm taking a lot of what he says as metaphor, even though his intention is pretty literal.

[heartlikealion]

That is an interesting take on it. 

I have requested the book No Bad Parts from the library. No one has it in their catalog (not even through ILL) but they are going to order it for me. 

 

[popmom]

My counselor has suggested this form of therapy for me. So I will be following.

[Melissa Louise]

9 hours ago, heartlikealion said:

That is an interesting take on it. 

I have requested the book No Bad Parts from the library. No one has it in their catalog (not even through ILL) but they are going to order it for me. 

 

I feel like metaphorically is the only take. After all, our back, for example, is not literally a different entity from our mind. We are integrated, literally, into a body.

Same with an 'inner' child, critic etc. Just ways to conceptualize ambivalent, divergent feelings. 

[heartlikealion]

2 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

I feel like metaphorically is the only take. After all, our back, for example, is not literally a different entity from our mind. We are integrated, literally, into a body.

Same with an 'inner' child, critic etc. Just ways to conceptualize ambivalent, divergent feelings. 

Did you listen to the YouTube clip? He’s saying we are close to split personalities and our parts are literally separate? My therapist may not have said it but the language used and the fact that it’s this guy’s model make me go huh 

[heartlikealion]

Also it matters to me sometimes literal vs symbolic… Catholics and Protestants have a very different take on Communion, for example. I wouldn’t expect one to attend the other’s church and just ignore that huge difference. 

[Melissa Louise]

8 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

Did you listen to the YouTube clip? He’s saying we are close to split personalities and our parts are literally separate? My therapist may not have said it but the language used and the fact that it’s this guy’s model make me go huh 

Yeah, that would make me go huh too. 

[Rosie_0801]

25 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

He’s saying we are close to split personalities and our parts are literally separate? My therapist may not have said it but the language used and the fact that it’s this guy’s model make me go huh 

That's taking the concept of code switching a bit far, isn't it?