SEAN CUTHBERT 

In this post, I explore the concept of precocious functioning, where children grow up in environments that places demands of their internal systems that are well beyond their developmental capacity, leading to the creating of Manager parts that are hyper-responsible and mature.

Grief is one of the most profound and universal experiences of being human. Yes, if you're reading this you have either grieved or you will grieve. Yet, particularly in Western cultures, grief is often met with discomfort, avoidance, or an urgency to “move on.” Western culture values productivity, achievement, and emotional control, which leaves little room for the slow, unpredictable, and sacred process of grieving. From an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, our d

In Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy (and trauma therapy in general), dissociation is a protective strategy to understand, rather than one to try and eradicate, or get rid of. When a client zones out, becomes foggy, goes blank, loses track of the conversation, or suddenly feels disconnected from themselves, something very intelligent is happening in their internal system. The client is showing how they survived overwhelming circumstances, or their childhood as a whole.

Providing options between keeping the eyes open versus keeping the closed in IFS can add depth to the Internal Family Systems process by adding choice.

Therapist burnout is a hot topic in the field of psychotherapy. Taking an IFS Lens on the topic reveals that burnout is the result of hardworking caretaker parts leading the therapist's system, resulting in exhaustion for the therapist, and invisible limits placed on the client's progress through rescuing rather than empowering.

Many new to IFS Therapy think parts must be classified as Managers, Firefighters, or Exiles. Yet true freedom comes from seeing that parts aren’t fixed types and they simply take on roles that evolve, revealing the deeper flexibility and healing potential within our inner system.

This post examines people pleasing through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. Learn how people pleasers come to be prominent parts of the psyche and how you can befriend and help them transform through the IFS Therapy process.

Polarizations are common in Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. Here, you will learn what they are and how to work with the effectively.