Enhancing Self-Therapy with Internal Family Systems and AI -

To practice IFS is to build a relationship between your Self and your various parts.

doing IFS with a partner is not about having a conversation. It’s about creating a therapeutic container.

The Individual clicks Record and then begins talking about a target part (1). When they click Send, the AI Practice Partner transcribes their words (2), reflects back key points (3), and asks questions according to IFS protocols (4).

IFS is grounded in the observation that the mind is naturally multiple, housing a variety of subpersonalities, or parts . We experience this multiplicity when we feel torn between conflicting desires; maybe part of us wants to pursue a challenging opportunity, but another part fears the risk, while a third part feels exhausted by the inner debate.

T... See more

Once an Exile is able to tell their story and feels fully witnessed by the Self, they may be prepared to let go of their burdens and limiting beliefs, and re-connect with long-forgotten positive qualities.

IFS comes with a user manual. The role of the therapist is not to diagnose or to heal the client, but rather to guide them step-by-step through the relevant protocols. With a less structured modality like talk therapy, AI chatbots can only mimic therapist behavior, producing a simulacrum of empathy. With IFS, an AI-powered tool can do much of the s... See more

“Once people learned the messages were co-created by a machine, it didn’t work. Simulated empathy feels weird, empty.”

But while working with a partner or a worksheet can help ease the cognitive load of an IFS session, neither of them adequately solves the problem. Working with a partner reintroduces some of the resource challenges that self-therapy seeks to alleviate. You need to find someone you trust, someone with skill, and hardest of all, someone who’s availab... See more

David Krakauer, president of the Santa Fe Institute, has a useful framework for describing the tension between assistance and agency that underlies both AI and mental health. Some technologies help us think, like the abacus, or a map. They open up new ways of thinking that we develop over time. Eventually we might not need the technologies any more... See more