The old saying is true: if you want to truly learn something, teach it. For the past five months, I’ve been quietly assisting in an IFS Therapy training through the IFS Institute. Last weekend was our final intensive, and I stumbled out of it a husk of myself, depleted beyond measure, for reasons I still find hard to explain.
But as I sat down with my clients this week, I found myself with a newborn appreciation for this model of inner work that I was fortunate enough to be formally trained in back in 2020, as a fledgling therapist. IFS, or parts work, was a way that I intuitivly began working with clients, and have found ever-more useful in my work as a psychedelic therapist.
As this article demonstrates, there really is something magical at work here.
(This is a reprint of an article that I wrote for Psychedelics Today back in 2021.)
“To me, what the essence of being psychedelic is is a flirtation with detail and multiplicity.”
-Terence McKenna
My eyes had been closed for a while now. Navigating inner space is always a surprisingly visual, animate journey for me. This time was no different.
The anger I felt churning like magma in my body was something deeply familiar, like a well-worn sweatshirt that I couldn’t bring myself to finally lay to rest. It was safe. Or rather, it kept me safe.
“What would your anger do if it didn’t have to keep doing this job?” the distant voice asked.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “I like the anger. I know it’s here to protect me. We get along”
“Good. So what does the anger have to say to you now?”
“That sometimes we lose people,” I sighed, “and that that’s ok.” These simple words gave way to a massive sense of release.
I felt the turbulent energy inside me suddenly expand into something which encompassed my entire awareness. The inter-psychic struggle I felt torn apart by a moment ago shifted into something that I can only describe as an emotionally expansive, all-inclusive moment of peace.
This space was familiar. I had felt it before, this wordless balance between bliss and sorrow.
Now, instead of feeling the flames inside me, I was inside the flame itself.
I exhaled into a stillness which resonated throughout my cells. The immensity of all of life’s crushing beauty somatically flooded through my nervous system and inner vision. Crying and laughing felt equally appropriate. My mind relinquished control, letting the story behind this painful life chapter dissolve into the purifying, boundless energy I suddenly found myself immersed in.
The voice advised me to stay there as long as I could. And so I did, until time began to loosen its pervasive grip upon my consciousness.
When I finally opened my eyes, I was still high.
This experience could easily describe some of the most profound moments I have experienced with psychedelics. I am confident it would land somewhere on the Pahnke-Richards Mystical Experience Questionnaire - the same one used in Roland Griffiths landmark 2006 Johns Hopkins study on psilocybin and mystical experiences. Yet this powerful inner experience was mediated through the internet, between myself and another person, without any substances whatsoever.
As powerful as any psychedelic moment of healing, this visionary journey was facilitated by a trainee in my Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy training. After my first experiences being guided through this therapy method, my suspicions around its potential for use in psychedelic therapy and integration were confirmed beyond a doubt.
Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz in the late 1980’s, Internal Family Systems is a psychotherapy modality rapidly growing in popularity. In January 2021, Tim Ferriss featured an interview and demonstration with Schwartz, giving his millions of listeners a front row seat into this intimate method of exploring the mind and the many parts, or subpersonalities, that populate it.
In fact, both Schwartz and Ferriss concluded that IFS can indeed bring one to the “same place” that psychedelics can.
Michael and Annie Mithoefer, pioneers of the MDMA-assisted psychotherapy protocol currently used by MAPS, are trained IFS therapists and integrate this method into their work.
When asked about working with IFS and MDMA, Mithoefer said, “I have learned how well the spontaneous observations and experiences of our participants map onto IFS, including both parts and the Self … In my experience, people are hungry for this perspective. Dick didn’t make it up – IFS taps into real phenomena.”
Schwartz himself has spoken about his experiences with psychedelics and how those insights helped open his awareness to the multiplicity of mind, a core principle of IFS **(source?).
In the past, the field of psychology viewed sub-personalities with great skepticism, giving way to infamous diagnoses such as dissociative identity disorder (DID) - formerly called multiple personality disorder (MPD). Yet IFS, a non-pathologizing form of psychotherapy, looks at the many sub-personalities, or parts, as natural facets of the psyche - aspects of ourselves which yearn to be known, understood, and healed.
As a depth psychotherapist, I was trained to suss out the unconscious and possibly archetypal aspects of a given dynamic or situation with my clients. Image and metaphor have long been the bread and butter of depth psychology, with myths and fairytales frequently providing the backdrop for some of this tradition’s most memorable texts.
After slowly developing my own therapeutic style, which is influenced not only by human teachers, but psychedelic plant teachers as well, IFS felt like an immensely practical tool with which to weave this odd tapestry of animism, image, and archetype.
After all, what is an archetype if not psychic energy crystallized into an image?
Parts
For millennia psychedelic medicines have been used by humans to invoke visions, as well as bring one into dialog with some larger presence - the Great Spirit, the spirits of teacher plants, animals, elements, or the ancestors. Especially with Ayahuasca, DMT, and other tryptamine-containing substances, people report encountering beings who often communicate detailed information that can be recalled after the effect itself has worn off.
Whether these entities are mere reflections or personifications of psychic parts is a valid, but different, discussion. The point is that when one goes deep enough into the mind, research and anecdotal evidence proves that it is not unusual to encounter presences that seem entirely other than one’s own self.
Instead of entities, beings, or spirits, IFS employs the language of parts to describe the psychic presences which collectively constitute one’s personality.
As a psychedelic integration therapist, IFS provided me with a systematized toolkit for working with people trying to make sense of the paradigm-bending moments that can often occur during a psychedelic journey.
The voice that suddenly tells you to quit your job. The sinking feeling in your stomach when you think about a memory from childhood. Feelings of unworthiness, that you’re doing it all wrong, or that suddenly you’re not safe, despite all evidence to the contrary.
From the IFS perspective, these are most likely parts expressing themselves and asking for your attention. From a shamanic perspective, these messages might be coming from the spirit of the plant you just ingested, from the ancestors, or from something else entirely.
For psychedelic explorers who prefer not to think in terms of spirits or entities, preferring a more clinical or psychopharmacological perspective, IFS can provide a useful method of conceptualizing and categorizing potentially confusing aspects of psychedelic experiences which might not fit within their worldview.
Self
Both IFS and psychedelics work by reconnecting one to an internal source of transpersonal energy, which Schwartz, taking a page from Carl Jung, calls the Self.
Like my own story above, IFS has the potential to lead one into profoundly visionary and emotionally cathartic experiences which are comparable to some of the most healing moments that I’ve experienced with psychedelic medicines.
IFS can provide both facilitators and participants a language by which to conceptualize and map an experience that would otherwise be, by its very nature, ineffable.
In describing the energy of the Self, Schwartz developed what he calls the 8 C’s: Compassion, Curiosity, Calm, Clarity, Courage, Connectedness, Confidence, Creativity. In IFS, it is the energy of the Self, not the therapist, which truly heals.
The good news here is that everyone, regardless of past trauma or experiences, has within them the boundless energy of Self. IFS believes that everyone has the capacity to heal.
The notion of the Self firmly locates IFS therapy in the terrain of existential-humanistic, transpersonal, and depth psychology, all of which form the foundations of emerging and long-standing modalities of psychedelic psychotherapy (see Grof, 1975, Stolaroff, 1997, & Leary, Metzner & Alpert, 2007).
One could say that within the psychological establishment, the idea of the Self is as radical a notion as LSD being used to heal. In many mental health agencies or governmental health services, both concepts would likely be given a sideways glance at best, mockery or early termination at worst.
In my own psychedelic experiences, I can recall moments of feeling immersed in many of the 8 C’s. Formal research has yet to be conducted connecting the Jungian and IFS concept of the Self within psychedelic experiences and its potential for healing, though Griffith’s research on mystical experiences mentioned above comes close.
Perhaps the expansive, all-encompassing energy of the Self is what the famous Mazatec curandera, Maria Sabina was referring to when she said, “Heal yourself, with beautiful love, and always remember, you are the medicine.”
Integration
After a psychedelic experience, my clients often share what can seem like a deluge of information, imagery, and questions. In addition to archetypal imagery, transpersonal, and shamanic perspectives, IFS provides me a detailed map for understanding and deeping into the integration process with clients. Often, there are recognizable themes or patterns that can emerge during a psychedelic experience- for good or ill.
Here are some core concepts in IFS therapy that I have found useful while facilitating integration work:
Unburdening
If one could distill IFS therapy down to a single sentence, I would say that it consists of helping certain parts of ourselves let go of outdated or inherited ways of being that cause us to suffer.
IFS calls this process unburdening, as it understands that certain parts take on burdens early in life which, as we grow, might become less and less helpful or healthy.
This unburdening is achieved by establishing a connection to the Self, so that the part can realize it doesn't have to do it all by itself, that it’s not alone, and that its past experiences don’t dictate the future. Usually, these moments are profoundly cathartic and emotional.
It can also take an immense amount of work to get there, which is why psychedelics can potentially play an immensely beneficial role in this therapeutic process.
From an IFS perspective, unburdening is often what happens in a positive psychedelic experience, and can be some of the most memorable moments of the journey. Giving your anger to the fire. Letting your grief float away into the ocean. Planting your sadness into earth. Such images are common in both IFS therapy sessions and psychedelic journeys.
With regards to particularly difficult psychedelic experiences, the IFS method can assist the integration process in a variety of ways through working with the parts that may have emerged during and after the journey.
Through the lens of IFS, our stories about who we are or how the world is might be a burden carried by a part.
Seeing oneself as a savior, victim, martyr, or outcast is a story that might be severely limiting one’s idea of who they really are and their self worth. Tendencies towards workaholism or scarcity fears, chronic shame, feelings of not being enough and needing to prove oneself are all burdens that certain parts might carry for decades. Many burdens were placed upon us during childhood by family members, and in that sense are not true reflections of who we are.
On an even deeper level, some burdens are inherited through our blood lineage and ancestry, such as intergenerational and systemic traumas. These heavy burdens may inform every aspect of someone’s life, and are heartbreakingly real, but are still not accurate reflections of who they truly are.
Trauma twists someone’s story about who they are. Healing helps rewrite it.
Polarization
Dealing with polarization between parts is a common occurrence in IFS therapy sessions. Through an IFS lens, challenging psychedelic experiences can often occur because these same polarized parts are amplified during a journey. Looping or confusion - a frequent element of a bad trip - can be seen as an extreme polarization.
Polarization is like an inner battle. A difficult psychedelic experience might occur because of this inner battle: One part wants to surrender, another part is terrified to do so. One part says to take a second dose, another part cautions against it. One part wants to lay down under a blanket, another wants to stand up, stretch, and go outside. Such conundrums can be viewed through IFS as polarized parts playing a psychic tug-of-war.
This can get exhausting. And usually, there is a much deeper process going on beneath. The IFS therapists job is to tend to the parts that arise with compassion, to witness them, help them unburden, and reconnect them to the energy of the Self.
Blending
We all have certain parts that become strong aspects of our personality. Many people who live outwardly successful lives might be plagued by a manager part which acts as a strict taskmaster, inwardly limiting their creative expression and spontaneity. High levels of anxiety, especially social anxiety, can be viewed through IFS as a critical manager or worrisome exile part which gains control in uncertain situations. Or someone struggling with a strong addiction, for example, can often revert to what’s called a firefighter - a reactive part that rushes in to dramatically protect the system when triggered, even though it ultimately sabotages that person’s wellbeing.
Such experiences are referred to in IFS as blending.
Fear of letting go, or being caught in the head is a basic example of being blended in a psychedelic state. The psychic energy being taken up by the part in question is inhibiting one from connecting to the body, the deep nervous system, and the Self, which is how healing most easily occurs.
Excluding genuine schizophrenic or bipolar episodes, extreme examples of negative outcomes from psychedelics can often be seen through this idea of blending.
How many of us have experienced someone - possibly ourselves - fresh out of a psychedelic state convinced they are either some kind of messiah with a sacred mission, or at fault for some global catastrophe, disaster, or cosmic mishap?
Taken to the extremes, this is the stuff that psychedelic-induced psychosis is made of.
And almost guaranteed, there is a much deeper reason why the part in question took over. Likely, it is to protect the psyche from facing something incredibly scary or traumatic
From a Jungian lens, one could view these extreme examples of blending as types of archetypal possession, resulting from an inflation of some kind. Strangely, psychedelics can both inflate or deflate the ego, filling someone up with grandiose visions of spreading the “good news,” or emptying one out into a fragile shell of themselves.
This is the critical role of integration - to recalibrate the ego with the Self, to witness and guide the vulnerable parts that need care, and to ground potentially expansive visions into a genuine path of healing.
Conclusions
Every IFS therapy session, like every psychedelic experience, can be worlds apart. Speaking from experiences both as a therapist and client, I am continually blown away by what this therapeutic modality has revealed for me and those I’ve been lucky enough to support.
As psychedelics are being embraced by the psychological establishment, and as these medicines collide with the demands of our capitalist economy, the need for highly trained, dedicated facilitators will become increasingly in demand.
Internal Family Systems is not only an effective psychotherapy modality with an extraordinary capacity to heal trauma, demonstrated in a pilot study in which 92% of participants no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis. It is a non-pathologizing, client-directed, and ultimately spiritual framework for guiding the potentially infinite road of self work.
As every good navigator knows deep down, the map and territory will always remain two very different realms. Yet as far as a set of directions for charting the inner world, and for helping people integrate potentially life-altering psychedelic experiences, Internal Family Systems presents a toolkit which can greatly benefit therapists and facilitators looking for a detailed, multifaceted, and truly psychedelic methodology for exploring the soul.
Thanks for this, Simon. I'm interested, as you might imagine, in the territory in common between poetics and parts work. My own investigations into my inner world express themselves through narrative landscapes in which the parts have agency and character that are not purely anchored in a parts-naming process, but in one of giving-voice-to. I'm also particularly interested in what happens when we introduce attachment theory to parts work, adding nuance and fluidity to attachment styles by allowing that each part might have its own dominant style, and that the presenting style of a person could depend on which parts are most active and loudest at any time. Bless your work and the thought-trails it provokes. I hope (and expect) we'll meet some day.
What a spectacular article. Thank you so much. I appreciated it and will enjoy reading it again and savoring the wisdom and insights you share. 🙏🏻💗