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Description And Overview Of Trauma Specific Intervention

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Description and Overview of Trauma-Specific Intervention Internal Family Systems (IFS) was developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz PhD. from feedback he gathered from clients. Through his work as a family therapist Schwartz had received training in systems thinking and family therapy theory. Dr Schwartz believed he was truly able to listen to the individuals in his care once he set aside his preconceived ideas of therapy and the human mind. Clients would describe various experiences which Dr. Schwartz believed were seen as different parts of their inner-self. Dr. Schwartz noticed how a person’s parts which were identified as confidence, openness and compassion acted as a center around which various parts constellate (or bring together in one …show more content…

Major Treatment Components The use of IFS treatment is generally used when clients have been determined through assessment to have experienced severe traumatic event. In the IFS system, the centre of this diverse collection of parts is the Self, which we may experience as a ‘core self’ or ‘true self’ (Johnston, 2001). In the IFS model, the parts fall into three categories: Managers, Exiles and Firefighters. It should be noted some therapist call the firefighters, protectors. The self works within the primary types of parts called the firefighters and the exiles. The Manager parts are found in typical roles ones we view as our inner critic, pleaser, organizer, judge, our intellectual self. Our Managers work hard anticipating what others want from us and they feel anxious when criticized, rejected or abandoned. They like to keep us in line and in top form with their ambitions, goals, and lists (Johnston, 2001). The firefighters are the parts you usually encounter first in exploring yourself. Their job is to handle the world and protect against the pain of the exiles. (Earley, 2016). Exiles take on pain and burdens from what they experienced as children (or occasionally at other times). Locked away, hidden deep in the psyche, the younger parts are often barely detectable. Acting like Exiles, they are locked away in an earlier time, still feeling the same hurt. We may view theses Exiles as in some sort of time warp unable to understand other parts

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