Applying family systems concepts to the intrapsychic realm, the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model proposes that individuals' subpersonalities interact and change in many of the same ways as do families and other human groups. Seasoned practitioner Richard C. Schwartz illuminates how parts of a person can form paralyzing inner alliances resembling the destructive coalitions found in dysfunctional families, and provides straightforward guidelines for incorporating the IFS model into treatment. A valuable text and clinical resource, the book demonstrates in step-by-step detail how therapists can help individuals, couples, and families tap core resources, bring balance and harmony to their subpersonalities, and feel more integrated, confident, and alive.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"The recent inclusion of dissociative identity disorder in the DSM-IV (1994) signals a continuing shift from the preconscious/conscious/unconscious model toward a multiple consciousness/split-consciousness paradigm. Among the more important voices in this revival is Dr. Richard Schwartz, whose Internal Family Systems (IFS) model is an elegant synthesis of the best principles of family systems therapy and the evolving, multiple-selves paradigm of personality and consciousness.
In this important and timely book, Dr. Schwartz presents a thoughtful, extensively researched and practical clinical model that therapists will be able to apply to a broad range of clinical issues. Schwartz shows not only how this model may be applied to individuals and families, but also to understanding and changing broader human systems at the level of culture and society. The model also offers a way of understanding transference and countertransference that is both elegant in its explanatory ability and pragmatic in its clinical applicability.
Clinicians and other readers interested in paradigms of consciousness will appreciate the gentle, yet powerful challenge to Western assumptions about consciousness and personality this book represents." --David L. Calof, editor-in-chief, Treating Abuse Today, clinical director, Family Psychotherapy Practice of Seattle, author (with Mary Leloo) of Multiple Personality and Dissociation: Understanding Incest, Abuse, and MPD
"Internal Family Systems Therapy, developed by Richard Schwartz, is one of the most innovative psychotherapeutic approaches to emerge in recent years. Schwartz's model is a unique application of family systems theory to the complex and conflictual interactional system within each person. Psychotherapists working with individuals, couples, or families will find these ideas and methods stimulating and useful, and will value Schwartz's compassion and respect for clients in their painful dilemmas and their change efforts." --Froma Walsh, Ph.D., Professor & Co-Director, Center for Family Health, University of Chicago, Past President, American Family Therapy Academy
"In a complex world, systems thinking is the tool of choice. To my knowledge, it has never been before been put to such good use as it has in Richard Schwartz's model of the Internal Family System. His description of the inner world of the psyche is the clearest and most useful I have ever encountered. Any improvement in the modeling of personality of this magnitude deserves very serious attention. He writes well too, which is a great blessing." --Ron Kurtz, B.A., Developer of the Hakomi Method of Body Centered Psychotherapy
"Each of us is lobbied by a clamor of disembodied inner voices. In his clinical work, Richard Schwartz engages with each of these voices as though it were a full, living member of a small, discordant, yet loyal parliament, one in which the core self of the client permanently presides. By applying family systems approaches to this interior assembly, Schwartz enables the client to comprehend and grapple effectively with many problems, even with such bedeviling maladies as bulimia and self-mutilation. His brilliantly imaginative methods feel natural and immediately acceptable to most individuals and families. The clear, intelligent exposition makes this enchanting book equally accessible to students and experienced clinicians." --Richard Chasin, MD, Family Institute of Cambridge; Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; President, American Family Therapy Academy
"This book presents the Internal Family System's model in a clear and readable way, providing wonderful case examples. The model is an excellent integration of systems theory and individual psychology which has literally transformed the way I work with clients. Because my MFT students have found it to be a tremendous help in their personal growth and in their growth as clinicians, I will continue to use it in my MFT theory courses. I refer to it over and over again in my clinical work, and hope that the author continues to share his ideas with the field." --Laura Johnson, PhD,, Assistant Professor, Appalachian State University
"Richard Schwartz is one of family therapist's most creative explorers. This long-awaited volume on his Internal Family Systems (IFS) model makes him the Magellan of family members' inner lives. Schwartz has done for internal systems what Haley and Minuchin did for external family processes. Schwartz makes the invisible visible in ways that are compelling, lucid, and clinically useful. He shows how the psyche is both systemic and accessible, and his model could well revolutionize family therapy. A far cry from your typical dry text, a spirit of adventure and discovery permeates this landmark volume! Must reading for anyone who wants to stay up on current models in the field. This book has generated enormous excitement among my students, and I highly recommend it to teachers and learners of therapy of any persuasion." --Douglas H. Sprenkle, Ph.D., Purdue University, Editor, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
"....A hallmark of humbleness and thoroughness. Schwartz recognizes that he is not the first theorist to view the mind as a multiplicity-oriented entity....His thoroughness shines as he provides detailed instructions for assessing and working with individuals' internal family systems. In a refreshing stance, he also discusses the common mistakes and pitfalls that new therapists make in practicing this model....This book will be both theoretically enriching and clinically helpful...." --Joseph L. Wetchler in Journal of Family Psychotherapy
"...offers the clinician a new tool for understanding internal conflicts and methods for working with themes of ambivalence and conflicting desires." --Robert L. Beck, American Journal of Psychotherapy
In this important and timely book, Dr. Schwartz presents a thoughtful, extensively researched and practical clinical model that therapists will be able to apply to a broad range of clinical issues. Schwartz shows not only how this model may be applied to individuals and families, but also to understanding and changing broader human systems at the level of culture and society. The model also offers a way of understanding transference and countertransference that is both elegant in its explanatory ability and pragmatic in its clinical applicability.
Clinicians and other readers interested in paradigms of consciousness will appreciate the gentle, yet powerful challenge to Western assumptions about consciousness and personality this book represents." --David L. Calof, editor-in-chief, Treating Abuse Today, clinical director, Family Psychotherapy Practice of Seattle, author (with Mary Leloo) of Multiple Personality and Dissociation: Understanding Incest, Abuse, and MPD
"Internal Family Systems Therapy, developed by Richard Schwartz, is one of the most innovative psychotherapeutic approaches to emerge in recent years. Schwartz's model is a unique application of family systems theory to the complex and conflictual interactional system within each person. Psychotherapists working with individuals, couples, or families will find these ideas and methods stimulating and useful, and will value Schwartz's compassion and respect for clients in their painful dilemmas and their change efforts." --Froma Walsh, Ph.D., Professor & Co-Director, Center for Family Health, University of Chicago, Past President, American Family Therapy Academy
"In a complex world, systems thinking is the tool of choice. To my knowledge, it has never been before been put to such good use as it has in Richard Schwartz's model of the Internal Family System. His description of the inner world of the psyche is the clearest and most useful I have ever encountered. Any improvement in the modeling of personality of this magnitude deserves very serious attention. He writes well too, which is a great blessing." --Ron Kurtz, B.A., Developer of the Hakomi Method of Body Centered Psychotherapy
"Each of us is lobbied by a clamor of disembodied inner voices. In his clinical work, Richard Schwartz engages with each of these voices as though it were a full, living member of a small, discordant, yet loyal parliament, one in which the core self of the client permanently presides. By applying family systems approaches to this interior assembly, Schwartz enables the client to comprehend and grapple effectively with many problems, even with such bedeviling maladies as bulimia and self-mutilation. His brilliantly imaginative methods feel natural and immediately acceptable to most individuals and families. The clear, intelligent exposition makes this enchanting book equally accessible to students and experienced clinicians." --Richard Chasin, MD, Family Institute of Cambridge; Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; President, American Family Therapy Academy
"This book presents the Internal Family System's model in a clear and readable way, providing wonderful case examples. The model is an excellent integration of systems theory and individual psychology which has literally transformed the way I work with clients. Because my MFT students have found it to be a tremendous help in their personal growth and in their growth as clinicians, I will continue to use it in my MFT theory courses. I refer to it over and over again in my clinical work, and hope that the author continues to share his ideas with the field." --Laura Johnson, PhD,, Assistant Professor, Appalachian State University
"Richard Schwartz is one of family therapist's most creative explorers. This long-awaited volume on his Internal Family Systems (IFS) model makes him the Magellan of family members' inner lives. Schwartz has done for internal systems what Haley and Minuchin did for external family processes. Schwartz makes the invisible visible in ways that are compelling, lucid, and clinically useful. He shows how the psyche is both systemic and accessible, and his model could well revolutionize family therapy. A far cry from your typical dry text, a spirit of adventure and discovery permeates this landmark volume! Must reading for anyone who wants to stay up on current models in the field. This book has generated enormous excitement among my students, and I highly recommend it to teachers and learners of therapy of any persuasion." --Douglas H. Sprenkle, Ph.D., Purdue University, Editor, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
"....A hallmark of humbleness and thoroughness. Schwartz recognizes that he is not the first theorist to view the mind as a multiplicity-oriented entity....His thoroughness shines as he provides detailed instructions for assessing and working with individuals' internal family systems. In a refreshing stance, he also discusses the common mistakes and pitfalls that new therapists make in practicing this model....This book will be both theoretically enriching and clinically helpful...." --Joseph L. Wetchler in Journal of Family Psychotherapy
"...offers the clinician a new tool for understanding internal conflicts and methods for working with themes of ambivalence and conflicting desires." --Robert L. Beck, American Journal of Psychotherapy
"Offers the clinician a new tool for understanding internal conflicts and methods for working with themes of ambivalence and conflicting desires."--American Journal of Psychotherapy
(American Journal of Psychotherapy 19970713)"A hallmark of humbleness and thoroughness. Schwartz recognizes that he is not the first theorist to view the mind as a multiplicity-oriented entity....His thoroughness shines as he provides detailed instructions for assessing and working with individuals' internal family systems. In a refreshing stance, he also discusses the common mistakes and pitfalls that new therapists make in practicing this model....This book will be both theoretically enriching and clinically helpful."--Journal of Family Psychotherapy
(Journal of Family Psychotherapy 19970713)
About the Author
Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is on the faculty of the Family Institute at Northwestern University. Coeditor of Handbook of Family Therapy Training and Supervision, he is coauthor of three books and author of over 40 articles on a variety of topics in psychotherapy. He serves on the editorial boards of five professional journals and is a fellow of the American Association of Marital and Family Therapists.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
161 of 166 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Internal Family Systems Therapy by Richard C. Schwartz represents the author's attempt at documenting a fascinating journey into the inner lives of clients. His model uniquely applies systems thinking to internal process, seeing our inner lives as yet another level of human systems. As I read this book, I was taken aback by how psychodynamics suddenly became coherent to me in a way that made intuitive and intellectual sense. Schwartz takes the reader through the development of the IFS model, and demonstrates how the therapy emerged from his interactions with his clients. He is successful in describing the step-by-step process of IFS therapy that is tied directly to the theory.
The IFS model assumes that we all are "multiple personalities", organized by a "self" that is compassionate, curious, and expansive. These sub-personalities, or "parts", are all good and are with us from birth. They are kept in balance and harmony through self-leadership. When the self is threatened by trauma or devaluation from the outside world, the parts protect the self from harm; in doing so, they also lose trust in the self's ability to provide leadership and safety. In "exiling" the self for its own protection, these parts become extreme and polarized; the parts that were hurt carry the burdens of pain and suffering ("exiles") that other parts (i.e., "managers" and "firefighters") try to keep out of conscious awareness through various roles and operations. This becomes a recursive system which feeds upon itself to create symptoms when a person is under stress. These parts, which have been forced into extreme roles, are often identified by mental health professionals as symptoms or "psychopathology".
... Read more ›47 of 54 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Through personal application of the therapies described in this book, I found it to be profoundly enlightening. It shed bright lights on the origins of my own thoughts and self-talk. Experiencing the benefits of the therapies, seeing that they work, it provided the best form of teaching to me as to how it can be a valuable resource for helping one's self and for helping others. Having specialized in pastoral counseling while earning my Masters of Divinity degree, this book has done more to help me understand the multiple (and valuable) personalities all persons develop from childhood to adulthood and then how to use these therapies in a counseling setting. Its methods provide such a positive way of looking at ourselves, at other individuals, and at family dynamics. The concept of internal family systems therapy makes so much sense that I hope more therapists and counselors discover it, utilize it, and recommend it.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By G. Palubiak
Format:Paperback
IFS has been a godsend to me. As a victim of long-term, sometimes torturous sexual abuse as a child, I tried to fight my way out of my pain for decades. I bounced from therapist to therapist expecting nothing more than to find a few good coping techniques to get me through the rest of my life. But I FINALLY met a therapist who seemed to hold the key, IFS. We've been working with IFS for about 2+ years and the results I've enjoyed go beyond my wildest imagination. I've found a love of myself...part by part...that I can only describe as miraculous.
If you are a mental health professional then please do yourself and your clients a huge favor by exploring this model.
If you are a mental health professional then please do yourself and your clients a huge favor by exploring this model.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By J. Bottone
Format:Paperback
Richard Schwartz clearly explains his therapeutic model of working with sub-personalities (parts) in a way that empowers the client to lead their lives from their Self instead of having one or more of their 'parts' run the show! Although I have intuitively been working this way in a gestalt framework, his model gives many guidelines to make this process smoother and avoid pitfalls in this type of work. An excellent guide.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Aisling
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm a therapy client whose therapist had been using IFS-based techniques with me for some time, though I hadn't known what the name for it was. While I could appreciate some of what she was doing, I was also pretty resistant to the whole premise that I should be compassionate and curious about "parts" of me that frankly I just wished would go away. In my previous experiences with therapy, I had been taught to distinguish between my rational, adult inner voice, and a vulnerable, emotional child voice, which seemed to make logical sense to me, but with this approach to therapy I was being asked to develop caring relationships with internal parts of myself that were angry or destructive or otherwise unlikeable on the surface, and frankly that seemed completely absurd.
Despite my doubts, I stuck with it, and slowly things started to happen for me, and then when my therapist mentioned IFS by name, I found this book and all these pieces started to come together. Although the book is really a textbook for therapists, I found it quite readable as a client, and so many things began to make sense about what was happening to me in therapy, and what role I needed to play in the process for the technique to be really effective. Having a big picture sense of the IFS methodology was incredibly enlightening and helpful, and I've made all sorts of progress that I think would have been much slower had I not read the book.
I think that the book would also be readable for someone who wasn't either a therapist or a client in an IFS setting, but there are limited examples and case studies in the book, so some things might be a bit vague and theoretical.... Read more ›
Despite my doubts, I stuck with it, and slowly things started to happen for me, and then when my therapist mentioned IFS by name, I found this book and all these pieces started to come together. Although the book is really a textbook for therapists, I found it quite readable as a client, and so many things began to make sense about what was happening to me in therapy, and what role I needed to play in the process for the technique to be really effective. Having a big picture sense of the IFS methodology was incredibly enlightening and helpful, and I've made all sorts of progress that I think would have been much slower had I not read the book.
I think that the book would also be readable for someone who wasn't either a therapist or a client in an IFS setting, but there are limited examples and case studies in the book, so some things might be a bit vague and theoretical.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read
This is an under rated book. It should be on some - books that make you smarter list. It's not a light read, but very much worth it.
Published 2 months ago by Barb
1.0 out of 5 stars
Harmful content. Buyer beware!
Reviews posted here 13 years ago are harming contemporary consumers and need to be deleted by Amazon. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Patricia
1.0 out of 5 stars
IFS "Parts" Therapy Under Scrutiny Now
Although Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) has been embraced by some therapists, it is currently under heavy scrutiny due to alleged improper and harmful use of "Parts Therapy"... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Sheri J. Storm
5.0 out of 5 stars
A practical book and a thoroughly enjoyable read
I am not a psychologist or an LCSW, but even to a lay person this book makes perfect sense. Schwartz gives a compelling view of the reasons behind his clients'-and everybody's-... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Cindy Tahija
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must read for Psychology
I've read all of Milton Erickson's books (well, except 2!), all of the NLP books, and some other things, and while I can say nothing but good about them in general, I think Dr. Read more
Published 7 months ago by M. Troyka
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most important book
Most important book. It describes the structure of the process of repression, which is caused by conflicting personalities (parts) living inside the person.
Published 14 months ago by Marco Liuzzi
2.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Concept, Lacks Scientific Support
I was recently introduced to IFS by a therapist where I work, so I decided to read more about it. While I find the principles in here to be potentially useful for some clients, I... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Lauren
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful
Imagine actually listening to patients. I know that sounds simple, but that is what Richard C. Schwartz did, was listen to them and actually understand what was going on in their... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Stephan O.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life changing!
I almost never write any of these reviews but this book was a game changer. I can say that of a few things in my life, specific books or events. Read more
Published 21 months ago by elissa ray
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wish this had a sequel
This book gives a whole new way of looking at past family trauma that you might be carrying with you. Read more
Published on April 28, 2011 by unsound000
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 11
books:
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17
books
cite this book:
See all 17 books citing this book
- New World by Warwick Collins in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Normal Family Processes, Second Edition by Froma Walsh in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Revised Edition by Alice Miller on page 50
- Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Collection) by Jan Dean on page 34
- Sigmund Freud (Sutton Pocket Biographies) by Stephen Wilson in Back Matter
See all 11 books this book cites
- Intimate Couple by Jon Carlson in Front Matter, page 275, and page 459
- Genes on the Couch: Explorations in Evolutionary Psychotherapy by Paul Gilbert on page 132, and page 149
- Case Studies in Couple and Family Therapy: Systemic and Cognitive Perspectives (Guilford Family Therapy) by Frank M. Dattilio PhD ABPP in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Genes on the Couch: Explorations in Evolutionary Psychotherapy by Paul Gilbert on page 132, and page 149
- Metaframeworks: Transcending the Models of Family Therapy by Douglas C. Breunlin in Front Matter, and Back Matter
See all 17 books citing this book
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