Ifs Quotes

“IFS can be seen as attachment theory
taken inside, in the sense that the client’s Self becomes the good attachment figure to their insecure or avoidant parts. I was initially amazed to discover that when I was able to help clients access their Self, they would spontaneously begin to relate to their parts in the loving way that the textbooks on attachment theory prescribed. This was true even for people who had never had good parenting in the first place. Not only would they listen to their young exiles with loving attention and hold them patiently while they cried, they would firmly but lovingly discipline the parts in the roles of inner critics or distractors. Self just knows how to be a good inner leader.”
― Richard C. Schwartz, No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model

“No matter how much pain or dysfunction you have to deal with in your
life, every part of your psyche is doing its best to help you”
― Jay Earley, Self-Therapy Journey: An Interactive Online Tool for Psychological Healing and Personal Growth

“We are not one-dimensional, and our multiple dimensions are not static. Just as our bodies are
made of many parts that form a dynamic, interwoven system that works together, so it is with
our psyches. We are more awake, alive, and complex than we know.”
― Ralph De La Rosa, Don't Tell Me to Relax: Emotional Resilience in the Age of Rage, Feels, and Freak-Outs

“IFS can be seen as attachment theory
taken inside, in the sense that the client’s Self becomes the good
attachment figure to their insecure or avoidant parts. I was ini-
tially amazed to discover that when I was able to help clients ac-
cess their Self, they would spontaneously begin to relate to their
parts in the loving way that the textbooks on attachment theory
prescribed. This was true even for people who had never had
good parenting in the first place. Not only would they listen to
their young exiles with loving attention and hold them patiently
while they cried, they would firmly but lovingly discipline the
parts in the roles of inner critics or distractors. Self just knows
how to be a good inner leader.”
― Richard Schwartz Ph.D.

“Parts have become burdened not by the nature of what they experienced, but by the way they chose to interpret their experiences and give meaning to them in order to come to terms with them.”
― Aion Farvahar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills: An Unofficial Guidebook for IFS Therapists and Practitioners

“Parts have developmental needs and become burdened when those needs are denied or unmet in their relationships with others. The psychology of healing is about understanding these unmet needs and creating space to meet them in relationship to Self.”
― Aion Farvahar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills: An Unofficial Guidebook for IFS Therapists and Practitioners

“Not all the burdens parts carry are caused by direct personal experiences. Some are inherited through cultural or ancestral lineage, and others are caused by impersonal or archetypal influences.”
― Aion Farvahar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills: An Unofficial Guidebook for IFS Therapists and Practitioners

“Inner work is a courageous act, and your clients are the true warriors in this act. But over time, your clients may feel inner-work fatigue and lose hope. As a practitioner, you need to notice this state, shift your clients out of it, and be a relentless agent of hope in their lives.”
― Aion Farvahar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills: An Unofficial Guidebook for IFS Therapists and Practitioners

“Self is the archetypal center of our psyche, the Archetype of Inner Order that brings peace and harmony to our parts congregating around it. Self is also the archetypal field of our heart, radiating intuitive wisdom and unconditional love. And above all, Self is the angelic aspect of our psyche, calling us to the highest manifestation of our individuated wholeness.”
― Aion Farvahar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills: An Unofficial Guidebook for IFS Therapists and Practitioners

“In any IFS session, we always work with a system, even when focusing on one part at a time. When engaging this system, everything we do or don’t do matters and sets the course for that session.”
― Aion Farvahar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills: An Unofficial Guidebook for IFS Therapists and Practitioners

“Native burdens are burdens that are caused by emotionally adverse experiences in one’s biographical life. To work with these burdens, we need to understand the nature of those experiences and the transference needs that were denied through them.”
― Aion Farvahar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills: An Unofficial Guidebook for IFS Therapists and Practitioners

“There are instances in IFS practice when Self is not easily accessible in the client’s system. In such instances, initiating Self-Like resources can invite higher Self Energy and serve as a catalyst to the natural emergence of Self.”
― Aion Farvahar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills: An Unofficial Guidebook for IFS Therapists and Practitioners