“The more we can learn to recognize and honor all of our parts, the more we can find inner peace and balance.” This quote by Dr. Richard Schwartz, the founder of Internal Family Systems, illustrates the importance of allowing space for each distinct aspect of ourselves, including the parts that developed out of a need for survival after sustaining core wounds. When learning to not only recognize these sub-personalities but also the relationships between them, Expressive Arts Therapy techniques can aid in further exploration and externalization of the parts of self to promote healing, integration, and a more compassionate and balanced self-view.
Internal Family Systems
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a systems-based therapeutic approach that can be tailored to meet the needs of each individual who engages with it, regardless of background or treatment goals, while simultaneously cultivating a holistic view of one’s innermost parts. The IFS model revolves around the concept that all people are composed of sub-personalities they have developed in order to protect themselves and survive through life’s challenges; however, the true, core Self is at the center, underlying these parts.
Each aspect of self has its own thoughts, emotions, perspective, sensations, impulses, and behaviors; nevertheless, there are no bad or useless parts. All sub-personalities have unique and valuable strengths, resources, and functions that care for the individual and core Self. For example, the managers are protectors who aim to safeguard the individual from perceived threats. Exiles, however, represent the trauma and latent, repressed experiences that are disconnected from the other parts in order to prevent further pain, shame, and wounding. When the exiled parts come to consciousness, the firefighters then emerge to distract the individual from their pain by engaging in impulsive and maladaptive behaviors such as substance use, violence, overworking, or otherwise self-medicating.
The Internal System
The Internal Family Systems model frames our inner world as consisting of different characters that each play a role in our internal system, existing like a family within us. Many of us naturally may have experienced feeling internally conflicted when faced with a difficult choice in life or even like there is a part of us that wants one thing while another part desires something entirely different. In fact, we may experience this inner dance between parts advocating for growth while other parts are simultaneously fearful or reluctant to change much like in the family system that craves homeostasis, balance, and equilibrium. We may already work with aspects of ourselves such as “the inner child” or “the inner critic” from other therapeutic modalities in order to understand ourselves more deeply and promote greater healing.
The focus of Internal Family Systems work is to explore the relationships between these parts in order to uncover the core Self that has been untouched by painful experiences, memories, and threats. The goal of IFS is not to remove these parts; rather, IFS aims to integrate these parts and promote more connection, harmony, balance, and acceptance of oneself in order to heal. Bringing these parts of self to life through expressive arts modalities is an accessible, tangible approach that not only provides additional clarity but also offers a new avenue of interaction with each sub-personality.
Expressive Arts Externalization
Expressive Arts Therapy techniques are powerful tools to aid in both processing and externalizing, making each part of the self more tangible and visible. Expressive arts techniques use a plethora of approaches ranging from visual art and mapping to psychodrama, movement, and writing. Each of these approaches may utilize different materials and embodiment practices to represent the sub-personalities in a more concrete way. Not only are IFS and Expressive Arts Therapy modalities accessible, but they are also effective for those with complex trauma. Even people who are highly rational and who may tend to intellectualize when faced with other therapeutic approaches are able to benefit from externalization because it builds a bridge between various types of thinking such as verbal processing and visual or embodied, feelings-based exploration.
Externalization is a way to deepen the healing of Internal Family Systems and reacquaint oneself with their parts in an imaginative and unique way. When we give voice to a triggered part of ourselves, allowing it to directly and outwardly express any fears or beliefs it holds without inhibition, judgment, or censoring from other parts, we cultivate an alternative pathway towards introspection, recovery, and self-actualization.
Exploring the parts of self through expressive arts invites curiosity and understanding of the relational dynamics and alignments of these sub-personalities. The more integrated we become, the more we can show up wholly and authentically.
The more we understand and hold compassion for the unique parts that make us who we are, the more we can connect with and trust the core Self in guiding us through values-based decision-making and living a fulfilled and enriched life.
Key Points
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a systems-based therapeutic approach that can be tailored to meet the needs of each individual who engages with it, regardless of background or treatment goals, while simultaneously cultivating a holistic view of one’s innermost parts.
- The IFS model asserts that all people are composed of sub-personalities they have developed in order to protect themselves and survive through life’s challenges; however, at the center, underlying these parts, is the true, core Self.
- All sub-personalities have unique and valuable strengths, resources, and functions that care for the individual and core Self.
- The focus of Internal Family Systems work is to explore the relationships between these parts in order to uncover the core Self that has been untouched by painful experiences, memories, and threats and, thus, develop more integration and wholeness within the individual.
- Bringing these parts of self to life through Expressive Arts Therapy techniques is an accessible, tangible approach that not only provides additional clarity but also offers a new avenue of interaction with each sub-personality.
- Externalization through expressive arts deepens the Internal Family Systems healing model by reacquainting oneself with their parts, the relationships between these aspects of self, and the unique voice and concrete identity expressed by each sub-personality.
Written by Sarah Engelskirchen-Bugler, MA, LMHC, Graduate of NWCEAI Professional Training Program
