IFS and Eating Disorders: What You Should Know
Internal family systems (IFS) is one model that can be used to treat eating disorders as well as other mental illnesses like addictions and anxiety disorders. When I began practicing as a therapist, I was drawn to “parts work” very early on because of the way that most people describe their struggles. For instance, I can’t tell you the number of times an eating disorder client has told me– “There’s a part of me that feels this way, but another part of me doesn’t know why I keep doing this!”
What is Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy:
IFS is a type of “parts work,” meaning that we explore different parts within a person, and how these parts function individually and separately. IFS was created by doctor and clinician Richard Schwartz, and the model has been recognized as an evidenced based treatment by the National Registry for Evidenced Based Programs and Practices.
Dr Schwartz is trained in treating families, and as his career evolved he noticed how each individual seemed to have their own family system within themselves. This is where the name “internal family systems” came from. So essentially, in individual therapy with IFS, we explore the complex family of “parts” within yourself.
The profound thing about IFS is the way that it facilitates self compassion, even in the most devastating illnesses like eating disorders. Because when we use IFS to treat an eating disorder, we are compassionately asking the question, “what is the eating disorder part of me trying so badly to help me with?”
Is IFS a Trauma Therapy?
IFS can be used to treat trauma, and preliminary research indicates that IFS may be useful for PTSD and multiple experiences of trauma in childhood. I have found that parts work can be incredibly insightful and useful especially for individuals who have more complex trauma backgrounds, because said simply- the more trauma you have, the more intense parts you tend to have. This is because within traumatic experiences, parts of ourselves grow and intensify in order to attempt to protect us.
An example:
Think about the child who sits alone with challenging feelings, or who is neglected in one way or another. A part of this child might develop an unconscious solution- maybe this part notices that it’s a nice distraction or even soothing to eat, or not eat. For some people or parts, not eating can numb out emotions, and for others eating certain foods or amounts can soothe or numb painful feelings as well.
The 6 F’s in Internal Family Systems:
The 6 F’s in IFS walk us through how we can approach parts of ourselves (like a part working within an eating disorder!) that are causing issues in our life. We call these parts “protectors,” as they are truly trying to protect in some way. Often times these parts have been helpful, but have become maladaptive in some way.
Find: this step is about finding out which parts need help or to be seen/heard.
Focus: then we just focus in on this part, and give the part time to tell us or show us about itself so we can observe and learn.
Flesh out: this step allows us to ask the part to share or show memories that are triggering to it, or to share emotions or sensations in the body.
Feel towards- then we get to ask other parts how they feel about this specific part. We get to see how the rest of “you” relates or doesn’t relate!
Befriend- now we want to form a relationship with this part. We start asking- “how can we all work together?”
Fear- we also need to ensure that we ask these powerful parts what they fear, since this will give us insight into how they have been trying so hard to help. This step gives us more information about how we can help.
Treating Eating Disorders with IFS Therapy
IFS can be a great adjunct to eating disorder treatment, and it can be included as needed and throughout treatment. Typically eating disorder treatment includes some combination of a team of providers: a dietitian/nutritionist, a mental health counselor, a psychiatrist, and a doctor. Therapists and nutritionists familiar with parts work might ask you questions like “what does the eating disorder part of you think about that?” But you can also go much deeper with parts work by using IFS and seeing a therapist who has taken specialized training in IFS.
For an IFS specialist, you can see the IFS directory here.
To book an appointment with me and learn more about incorporating IFS into your treatment, you can inquire through my contact page. To take an on-demand online course with me see my course list here.
Resources:
IFS Institute: https://ifs-institute.com/
