Contributed by Richard Schwartz
Reflections on Rich
Friends Celebrate His Life and LegacySharing how Rich Simon impacted our lives—and the field as a whole. Read more
IFS and Chronic Pain
Listening to Inner Parts that Hold the HurtIf most chronic pain is maintained by complex mind–body interactions, how can therapists help treat it? Read more
Working With Internalized Racism
From Shame to Unburdening with IFSWhile the Black Lives Matter movement has increased the country’s understanding of the pernicious impact of racism, how do people actually do the internal... Read more
The Viral Wake-up Call
Questioning Core BeliefsAmid the pandemic, the pain and vulnerability of the majority of Americans, who live on the financial edge and can’t afford a crisis like this, are glaringly... Read more
VIDEO: Richard Schwartz on Healing Our Wounded Inner Parts
The Originator of IFS on Helping Clients Awaken Self-HealingInternal Family Systems (IFS) has allowed therapists to awaken the capacity for deep self-healing within even their most troubled clients. In this video clip... Read more
VIDEO: How Symptoms Reveal the Path to Growth
IFS Developer Richard Schwartz on Befriending the Inner "Protector"Often, our attitudes toward anxiety symptoms are misguided, says Richard Schwartz, the originator of Internal Family Systems. By understanding responses... Read more
VIDEO: Richard Schwartz on Being a Compassionate Witness to Yourself
How Internal Family Systems Gives Traumatized Clients Their Power BackAccording to Richard Schwartz, the originator of Internal Family Systems therapy, the natural state of the mind is to be subdivided into parts, which carry the... Read more
Facing Our Dark Side
Some Forms of Self-Compassion Are Harder than OthersAchieving a genuine state of self-compassion is a more challenging undertaking than many realize. Far from a little feel-better incantation you offer yourself... Read more
VIDEO: Helping Traumatized Clients Understand their Automatic Responses
Richard Schwartz Explains Why Panicked Trauma Responses are Also Defensive OnesIn this brief video clip, Richard explains how trauma survivors can have a dialogue with the damaged inner parts—the “Exiles”—by first consulting their... Read more
VIDEO: Working With The Borderline Client
Dick Schwartz Demonstrates How to Minimize ReactivityWhen a deeply troubled client begins a first session by shifting erratically through different mood states and periodically going numb, many therapists... Read more
Depathologizing the Borderline Client
Learning to Manage Our FearsInevitably, given their history of trauma, many borderline clients will trigger their therapists from time to time. But forgoing the urge to blame these... Read more
When Meditation Isn't Enough
Going Beyond Acceptance to HealingA psychotherapist discusses the next step: how to help clients transform the disruptive feelings and thoughts that they’ve learned to simply observe during... Read more
The Larger Self
Discovering the Core Within Our MultiplicityThe practice of therapy, for both therapist and client, is transformed when we connect with our fundamental core, a process that involves learning to listen... Read more
No Contest
How a therapist learned to listenA take-charge clinician meets his match and finally learns to listen to his clients-and himself. Read more
Richard Schwartz
Richard Schwartz, PhD, is co-author, with Michael Nichols, of Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the United States. Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems in response to clients’ descriptions of experiencing various parts–many extreme–within themselves. He noticed that when these parts felt safe and had their concerns addressed, they were less disruptive and would accede to the wise leadership of what Dr. Schwartz came to call the “Self.” In developing IFS, he recognized that, as in systemic family theory, parts take on characteristic roles that help define the inner world of the clients. The coordinating Self, which embodies qualities of confidence, openness, and compassion, acts as a center around which the various parts constellate. Because IFS locates the source of healing within the client, the therapist is freed to focus on guiding the client’s access to his or her true Self and supporting the client in harnessing its wisdom. This approach makes IFS a non-pathologizing, hopeful framework within which to practice psychotherapy. It provides an alternative understanding of psychic functioning and healing that allows for innovative techniques in relieving clients symptoms and suffering.