At first glance, the Internal Family Systems model can come as quite a shock. We’ve talked about the Self and how various parts exist within the Self. We’ve discussed how those different parts seek to be understood and known, and how they can change the course of our lives. But not every trauma victim gets the opportunity to really come to terms with their parts.
The IFS model of treating trauma has been shown to be extremely effective because it causes trauma victims to look at their conditions differently. It encourages them to ask difficult questions, but the answers are often pivotal to their understanding of themselves. It’s important to comprehend multiplicity within the Self for the real healing of trauma to take place.
A Different Look at Your Personalities
For just a moment, consider that your thoughts and emotions both come from personalities that lie inside of you. If you’re like most people, your thoughts probably immediately go to those of schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder. That’s not what this is referring to. It also doesn’t mean that independent identities exist inside of you, outside of your control. Please set those fears aside.
In this instance, those personalities are what are responsible for experiencing your thoughts and emotions; whether they are good or bad. For example, perhaps you become gripped with fear anytime anyone suggests that you get a driver’s license. Maybe you were in a terrible car accident as a child, and the thought of driving a car causes you to panic.
Those thoughts and emotions you experience are very real, just as the trauma was very real. But they do not come from the essence of who you are as a person. Instead, it helps to view them as coming from a part of you, or a personality inside of you that has those fears.
Your Personalities are Separate From Your Self
The IFS model can help you understand that while you do have those fears about driving a car, they do not define you as a person. But even more than that, you, as that Self, has the power to transform them.
The good news is that it isn’t necessary for you to begin working on transforming them right away. In fact, that might not even be possible for you to do on your own. But it is very important to simply see them in a different way in your mind.
Do you see the difference in the two phrases below?
I’m deathly afraid of driving a car.
There’s a part of me that’s deathly afraid of driving a car.
The first phrase is absolute, and it seems that there is no room for any change. But the second phrase releases the Self from responsibility and suggests that while the fear is there, it is not a self-identifying fear.
The IFS Model During Trauma Therapy
Trauma therapy can be so helpful to victims, and the IFS model of treatment has changed many lives. The weight of trauma can grow heavier by the day, and there are so many people who suffer because of it. I want you to know that there is a way to change that.
If you want to heal from your trauma, I can help you. Please contact me for an appointment.
