Dr Richard Schwartz – How Internal Family Systems Can Help You Flourish

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Richard Schwartz. Dr Schwartz is the Founder of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) Model, a pioneering approach to psychotherapy which can be used to treat a wide range of problems, including eating disorders, self harm, addiction, and trauma. The model is based on the assumption that each of us (both the healthy and unwell) contain multiple sub-personalities inside in a kind of “Internal Family System”, and that we can significantly improve our wellbeing by acknowledging this, and treating our parts with the same respect and love we’d show to someone else we really cared for. If this sounds crazy to you, which admittedly it did to me when I first discovered it, there is a rapidly growing evidence base demonstrating the efficacy of the approach, and thousands of clinicians all over the world are now using it to help clients. If you’re interested in learning more, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Dr Schwartz’s most recent book: “No Bad Parts”, or check out some of the other resources available at www.ifs-institute.com.