The Mini Unblend in Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy: A Simple Way to Come Back to Yourself
Sometimes your inner world very, very crowded. Maybe you’re in a moment of anger, self-criticism, craving, replaying a conversation, worrying about tomorrow, and trying to work out what to do next. Like dominoes, one thought leads to another, and one feeling activates another. Before long, your whole system of parts can feel like it is in chaos.
This is a familiar experience in Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. In IFS, we understand these experiences as times when parts have become blended with us.
Grief Loves Company: an Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy Lens on Parts Holding Sorrow
Grief is one of the most profound and universal experiences of being human. Yes, if you’re reading this you have either grieved or you will grieve. Yet, particularly in Western cultures, grief is often met with discomfort, avoidance, or an urgency to “move on.” Western culture values productivity, achievement, and emotional control, which leaves little room for the slow, unpredictable, and sacred process of grieving.
THE INSIDE STORY OF ATTACHMENT: What can Internal Family Systems Therapy offer?
How many of us have seen our own challenges with connection and relationships in our clients and their stories? And how many of us have felt the sharp pang of embarrassment when these relational challenges unexpectedly emerge between the client and ourselves? Throughout the course of my career as a mental health
social worker, attachment theory has intermittently helped me understand and navigate these challenges… up to a point. The commonly understood four
categories of attachment (secure, anxious, avoidant, disorganised) have assisted me in case conceptualisation again, up to a point.
When Responsibility Replaced Childhood: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) Perspective on “Precocious Functioning”
Some children seem remarkably mature for their age. They are often described as: old souls, very mature for their age, or just “little adults.” They’re hyper-responsible, thoughtful, emotionally insightful, and dependable. Teachers admire them, and parents sing their praises them for being so easy to care for. They rarely cause trouble and often seem wiser than their years.
From the outside, this maturity appears to be a gift. However, from an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, however, this is often a sign that childhood was curtailed or interrupted.