Can You Do IFS Therapy by Yourself? A Guide to Self-Led Parts Work
You've been reading about Internal Family Systems therapy. You understand the basics (that your mind is naturally divided into parts, each with its own perspective and protective role). You're intrigued by the idea of befriending these parts instead of fighting them. But you're wondering: Can I just do this on my own?
It's one of the most common questions I hear as an IFS therapist, and the answer isn't a simple yes or no. The truth is more nuanced and more empowering than you might think.
Why you feel torn between two choices and how IFS therapy helps
Many people feel torn between two choices. You may lean toward one option, then pull back and question yourself. This kind of inner conflict can create tension and worry. Internal Family Systems therapy offers a gentle way to understand these moments. It helps you notice the different parts of you that want different things and shows how they each try to protect you. When you slow down and listen to these parts, the pressure eases and clarity grows.
“Parts Work” Isn’t New. It is Ancient.
IFS didn't invent parts work. It gave us an elegant, accessible map for terrain that philosophers, psychologists, and healers have been exploring for thousands of years. Understanding this lineage changes everything about how you might approach IFS therapy and your own inner world.
Understanding and Healing Shame Through IFS Therapy
What if shame wasn’t a flaw, but a part trying to protect us from rejection and exposure. Through the Internal Family Systems (IFS), we can begin to see shame not as the enemy, but as a misunderstood guardian that longs to be seen and relieved of its burden.
Mapping Your Parts in IFS: How To Get Started
We all have inner parts: critics, protectors, dreamers, and younger selves. Mapping your parts through Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy helps you see how they interact, reduce inner conflict, and bring more compassion to your daily life.
Healing Limerence: How Internal Family Systems Can Help
Limerence is more than a crush. Limerence is an intense, often overwhelming state of obsessive longing that can disrupt daily life. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy offers a gentle way to understand the parts of you caught in the cycle of fantasy, shame, and longing. By meeting these inner parts with compassion, IFS helps ease the grip of limerence and brings you back to clarity and balance.
How IFS Helps Heal Trauma
IFS therapy helps you heal trauma not by forcing it to surface, but by building trust with the parts of you that carry pain, and the ones that protect it.
When Your Inner Critic Sounds Like the Voice of Reason
Your inner critic often sounds helpful, but it’s usually just scared. IFS therapy helps you meet it with compassion, not shame, so it can finally rest.
How IFS Therapy Can Help You Stop Self-Sabotaging
Self-sabotage isn't about weakness. It's often a protective part trying to shield you from pain. IFS therapy helps you meet that part with compassion.
How Do I Explain IFS to My Partner?
Whether you’ve started IFS therapy or are just drawn to the idea, it can feel hard to explain. This guide offers gentle, non-jargony ways to talk about it with someone you love.
What Therapy is Best for Trauma?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to trauma therapy, but there are some powerful, gentle approaches that can help. Learn about IFS, narrative therapy, and more.
What Does ‘Trauma-Informed’ Mean?
Trauma-informed therapy isn’t about re-living your story, it’s about healing at your pace. Learn how IFS, Narrative Therapy and CBT each support safe, respectful care.