A review by pcdbigfoot
No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard C. Schwartz
5.0
Read this book if you'd like to understand your inner self, or maybe a loved one more. Internal Family Systems is a framework that lays out the system of self it a very accessible way. From the start, I was riveted, as this may be the most straightforward depiction of complex beings that I'll find.
Schwartz likening one's inner 'parts' to 'alters' that are found in someone with Dissociative Personality Disorder sounded a bit hyperbolic to me until I heard him interact with some of them. He affords them the attention and respect one would give an individual. Delivered in non-judgmental voice, this seems to encourage we the patients to view them with curiosity and open-mindedness, so we can learn about this part of ourselves as we go.
Perhaps the biggest benefit to me from this book is having a way to understand, and maybe unburden a complex blend of emotions in the moment. Obviously, this is just an introduction that doesn't give one the tools to 'fix' themselves or others. But it definitely makes me want to learn more about IFS.
Consider listening to the audiobook so you hear the sessions the author conducts with several subjects, in their own voices.
Schwartz likening one's inner 'parts' to 'alters' that are found in someone with Dissociative Personality Disorder sounded a bit hyperbolic to me until I heard him interact with some of them. He affords them the attention and respect one would give an individual. Delivered in non-judgmental voice, this seems to encourage we the patients to view them with curiosity and open-mindedness, so we can learn about this part of ourselves as we go.
Perhaps the biggest benefit to me from this book is having a way to understand, and maybe unburden a complex blend of emotions in the moment. Obviously, this is just an introduction that doesn't give one the tools to 'fix' themselves or others. But it definitely makes me want to learn more about IFS.
Consider listening to the audiobook so you hear the sessions the author conducts with several subjects, in their own voices.