The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of working with the psyche is becoming very popular. People are talking about their “parts” more and more. The simplicity of the word “part” allows people to get up and running in coaching and therapy so they can take an active role in the work. Although a part is also called a “subpersonality”, saying something like “A part of me wants to go, and another part of me doesn’t” is already a natural manner of expressing a multiplicity in one’s mind, with less clunkiness than another typical psychotherapeutic term.
In IFS, a part is not a pathology. A part is not a complex. The point of the term is to keep the language functional, without reference to a diagnostic label. A diagnosis or lack of one (in most cases) does not affect one’s ability to do parts work.
Parts are adaptive and they are trying to help. While some of them are stuck in the past or repeating old patterns that no longer serve, some actually DO help you today. Some parts around keeping you safe, establishing boundaries, and managing healthy habits, for example, may be great allies in living a good life. Other similar parts can sometimes “take a turn” and become problematic. When we dialog with the part, we sort out which is which.
In a session, sometimes several parts will make an appearance around one issue. More parts doesn’t mean more problems! Whether one part or 10 show up around an issue, in an IFS session we carefully focus on one at a time. We take the time and space to learn which part needs our attention first, because it leads to more gains overall. Being aware of a constellation of concerned parts can be very helpful for future work, after the target part has been addressed.
Getting to know your parts can be enjoyable. Most people find it a really efficient way to get new perspectives on their patterns of thinking and feeling, and enjoy taking an active part in the investigation of their inner world.