Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)

What is internal family systems?

Internal family systems, or IFS, is a talking therapy built on one idea. It sees your mind as a system of parts, some protective and some hurt. A calm core, which IFS calls the Self, guides them.

In the IFS view, every mind works like this. Having parts is not a sign that something is wrong.

Richard Schwartz, a family therapist, developed it from the early 1980s. His clients kept talking about different parts of themselves, as if each had its own voice.

Sources: IFS Institute: overview, IFS Institute: model outline, Schwartz 2026

How it works

IFS sorts parts into two broad kinds. Protectors try to keep you safe and in control. Exiles are young, hurt parts that the protectors keep out of sight.

Some protectors criticise you, or put everyone else first, so that old pain is not stirred up. IFS calls them managers.

Others, called firefighters, rush in once the pain breaks through. They reach for a drink, a binge or some other way to numb it.

IFS holds that there are no bad parts. Each one is trying to help, even when its methods cause harm. The work is to meet each part from the Self, with curiosity instead of a fight.

Source: IFS Institute: model outline

What sessions look like

A session often starts with a feeling or a reaction you want to understand. Your therapist asks you to turn your attention inwards and notice where it sits in your body.

Then you get to know the part behind it. What is it trying to do for you? What does it fear would happen if it stopped?

Protectors come first, and the pace is agreed with them. When an exile is ready, it is heard and helped to let go of the pain it carries. IFS calls this unburdening.

Sources: Schwartz 2021, IFS Institute: model outline

Who it may suit

IFS can be a good fit if you:

• Feel torn, as if part of you wants one thing and another part wants the opposite
• Have a harsh, relentless inner critic
• Notice the same reaction taking over, however hard you try to stop it
• Want to come at painful memories slowly, with your protective side on board
• Like working with imagery and inner conversation as well as talk

It may suit you less if you want a set programme with homework and a clear end date. That is closer to cognitive behavioural therapy.

The team that tested IFS for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) set two limits. They do not recommend it after a brain injury, or in an unsafe home.

Source: Hodgdon et al. 2022

How it differs from other approaches

CBT helps you test a thought and change it. IFS gets curious about the part that holds the thought, and what it protects. Your inner critic is listened to rather than argued with.

Psychodynamic therapy also looks at how the past shapes the present. It works mainly through talk and through the relationship with your therapist. IFS works more directly, through conversation with the parts themselves.

Finding an IFS therapist

In the UK, IFS training now admits only people already qualified in counselling, psychotherapy or another mental health role. The IFS Institute sets the training, and runs a separate certification.

The institute is not a regulator. Its certificate does not show that its holder is a registered professional.

Anyone in the UK can call themselves a psychotherapist or a counsellor. So check that your therapist is on a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.

Sources: IFS UK: level 1 admissions, IFS Institute: certification, IFS Institute: directory disclaimer, POST: regulation of professionals, PSA: accredited registers

The evidence

IFS is popular, but its research base is small. A 2025 review found 27 studies, and only two were randomised trials. NICE does not name IFS in its guidance on depression or on PTSD.

In a 2013 trial, 79 adults with rheumatoid arthritis had either an IFS programme or leaflets by post. A year on, the IFS group reported less pain and depression. Its authors, who include the founder, say the extra contact alone may explain the gains.

A 2022 pilot study gave IFS to 17 adults with PTSD after childhood trauma. Most no longer met the criteria for PTSD a month later. There was no comparison group, and the founder was an author.

In 2026, a randomised trial compared an online IFS group with a stress-reduction course for PTSD. Symptoms fell in both groups. Neither did better than the other.

If PTSD is what you are living with, NICE recommends trauma-focused CBT first. Our trauma and PTSD page starts there, and our guide to the main approaches compares the rest.

Sources: Buys 2025, NICE NG222, NICE NG116, Shadick et al. 2013, Hodgdon et al. 2022, Joss et al. 2026