Summary of IFS
Master Class with Richard Schwartz, Ph.D.
by Laurie Brown and
Girvani Leerer
First
Dick asked people to share their backgrounds and what
they wished to focus on. The group
agreed that they wanted to focus on live demonstrations of work with complex
clients. The clinical examples were
rich and challenging, reminding us of the kind of binds in which we can find
ourselves when our own “Manager” parts get scared or triggered by our
client’s dangerous behaviors or rage, and step in to try to control the
situation. The result is that we move from an empathic “Self” stance into an
ineffective, controlling posture that leaves the client alienated and
distrustful, and leaves feeling afraid, helpless, frustrated, and overwhelmed.
In
one example, a therapist role-played a client getting into an emotionally
escalated “Exile” part. This therapist shared that her usual orientation was
to actively intervene to contain such extreme emotion so the client would feel
safe. Instead, Dick calmly listened to the part and reflected back to it that he
could see it really wanted to convey how upset it felt.
He let the part know he intended to help the client’s Self help the
part feel better, and asked if it would be willing to work with him while he
took steps to do this. Dick’s confidence that the part would settle down once
it felt recognized and heard allowed him to relax and respond authentically from
Self, trusting that contact with
Self would reliably calm the client’s “Exile” without his having to do
anything to contain the initial acting out.
In
another demonstration, Dick worked with a therapist who shared that one of her
“Exile” parts was deeply triggered by her work with a male client who is
having trouble containing his own violence.
The combination of the safety and intimacy in the room, the courage of
the therapist, and Dick’s calm presence made it possible for this therapist to
work deeply with him, allowing the group to witness some of the key elements of
the IFS “unburdening” process. In this process, a person’s Self witnesses
a part’s story and history and helps the triggered part release the
“burden” of pain and negative beliefs from the past that intrude in the
present. After the story is witnessed and held with empathy and understanding by
the person’s Self, the part is invited to release the burden in a way that
allows it to transform. The part then invites in desired or needed self
qualities to help it continue to heal and discover its true potential. With
Dick’s guidance, the therapist volunteer was able to unburden her frightened
part in a way that allowed her to feel far more capable of dealing with her
challenging client. It was a very
moving piece of work, and we were all grateful to Dick and our colleague for
offering the group such a rich learning experience.
We
thank Dick Schwartz for his creative work in developing the Internal Family
Systems model and for making himself available to work with NESTTD members to
become more familiar with the approach.