Self-Therapy : A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness Using IFS, A Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy, 3rd Edition

Protectors are the parts you usually encounter first when exploring yourself because they are most accessible to everyday consciousness.

Protection from External Harm. Some protectors try to keep an exile from being harmed by other people, like the enraged protector mentioned above that wants to prevent the exile from being controlled. These protectors see the exile as vulnerable and unable to protect itself.

The practice of Focusing[4] is an excellent method for allowing parts to gradually come into view.

Here is the procedure: Check inside, noticing your feelings, body sensations, thoughts, desires, and images. One of these parts will probably come to your attention first. Make a note of it. Then notice one of your other experiences and make a note of the part related to it. Keep going in this way until you have noticed all the parts that are prese

The human psyche is organized around avoiding pain. That is the job of the protectors—to buffer you from suffering.

These problematic emotions and desires really come from parts of us, sometimes called “subpersonalities.” These “parts,” as they are known in IFS, are like little people existing inside of us—each with its own unique feelings, motivations, and view of the world.

Sometimes positive feelings can interfere with your being in Self. If you admire the target part to such an extent that you lose sight of how it is causing you problems, you are not in Self. For example, suppose you have a part that is really angry at your boss and is creating a lot of drama at work. You start to explore it, and when you check to s

The most potent question to ask here is: “What are you afraid I would do if you didn’t (perform your role)?”

There will be parts corresponding to feelings and body reactions triggered by that situation and thoughts and desires you have about it. There will also be parts that determine the way you behave in that situation. Let’s

I used to get very sad and lonely whenever my wife was away for more than a day. If she traveled for a weekend or, God forbid, a week, I would feel bereft and depressed. Once I learned IFS, I realized that these feelings were coming from a Deprived Child Part of me who was left alone in an incubator for weeks after I was born prematurely and then d