Internal Family Systems (IFS)/Ego State Therapy

Ego-State Therapy and Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy are both used to treat dissociated parts of the personality. These parts originate out of the needs of the individual, particularly those needs resulting from relationships with dominant persons or challenging situations, as well as severe trauma, abuse, and neglect.

On the surface, you may get by just fine.

However, inside, you feel you’re hanging on by a thread. You’re pushing your partner away again or creating chaos in your relationship because it feels familiar and comforting and maybe even evokes a sense of connection in your relationship.

When exploring in therapy, you realize this pattern feels familiar, and a memory forms of when you were eight years old and your parents were fighting for the fifth day in a row. You try to distract them by intervening and then eventually retreat to your room. The image you get is you sitting on your bed with your head hanging down. The feelings associated with this scene are sadness and fear.

When you further connect with this part, you understand it formed to preserve a connection with your primary attachment figures by joining in their form of communication and then eventually retreating to protect yourself from feeling rejected by their lack of attention toward you.

You have a lightbulb moment that this pattern is playing out in your adult life, and the good news is that you will have the tools to change it.

Parts work is beautiful for deeply understanding…

… and relieving our body’s reactions to anxiety, depression, trauma, and much more.

Many clients seeking this type of therapy report feeling stigmatized in previous types of therapy or that their patterns or behaviors were misunderstood. You’ll learn more than just coping skills; you’ll learn about the organization of your inner world, why and how it formed, and how to support it in regulating.

What’s at stake for you if you don’t change your patterns, beliefs, or behaviors?

What will this mean for your relationships, potential opportunities, and your life a year down the line? How about 5 and 10 years down the line? Please take a few moments to consider this.

Our work together…

Ego-State Therapy and Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach symptoms (like anxiety or depression) and behaviors (like picking the wrong romantic partners over and over) as parts of ourselves that usually developed out of necessity or protection and were useful somehow at the time they developed. Often, these parts are very young and have unsophisticated defense mechanisms, like shutting down or acting impulsively to get a need met.

Instead of pushing these parts down and ignoring, avoiding, or shaming them, parts work aims to understand their age, perspective, and function and ultimately to unburden them of the role they’ve had to play for so long.

We will also work to identify and enhance your wisest, most adult part that knows how to handle business and makes good decisions. I’ll ask you to identify this part through visualization and mind/body connection, and we’ll work to develop a clear sense of where it lives in your body and what it looks like.

That part will act as a leader to reduce the need for other parts’ roles and convey safety and assurance.

Once you integrate parts and operate from your wisest self, you will probably experience a deep sense of self-compassion, love, gratitude, and wholeness.

If you thought earlier about not taking action to disrupt the patterns you’re in…

… and what this will mean for your life down the line and came up with any answer other than “Things will be awesome,” please reach out to me.

Let’s get started to level up your life and be the adult your younger self always needed!

Call me at (248) 000-0000 to schedule a free 20-minute consultation.