Healing the fragmented self in the IFS therapeutic model

[obyvatel]

I recently came across the IFS (Internal Family System) therapy model while looking for some material for working with the inner child. The IFS system has a model which is quite in line with the 4th Way view of the human psyche. It deals with concepts like little I's, buffers, identification, divided attention while using different terminology. IFS is a therapeutic model whose goal is to heal the psyche - so it is practical and I found it helpful to see some Work related concepts from that practical therapeutic perspective. IFS can perhaps build on the psychological framework laid down by books like "Myth Of Sanity", "Narcissistic Family"and "Drama Of the Gifted Child". While trying to review the system, I have used two sources - _http://www.selfleadership.org - the official website of IFS - and the book " Self-Therapy: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, A New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy " by Jay Earley.

Origin of IFS
The founder of IFS is Dr Richard Schwartz, a family therapist. According to Dr Schwartz, he combined concepts and methods of existing schools of family therapy with the hands-on knowledge of sub-personalities which emerged from his long experience working with clients. The IFS model has evolved over the past 20 years. Dr Schwartz says that one of the key features of IFS is that it studies the often complicated interrelationships between the various sub-personalities within the psyche which is often ignored in other psychotherapeutic techniques. Sustained behavioral changes are difficult to obtain without looking at such inter-relationships within the components of the psyche. The IFS model basically views the psyche of being composed of relatively discrete parts which have their own qualities and own individual roles to play in life. Due to traumatic life experiences - specially in childhood - many parts are forced out of their normal roles and the whole system is reorganized in an unhealthy way which persists into adult life. Readers familiar with the recommended reading material in this forum know this dynamic quite well. IFS aims to identify individual parts and their inter-relationships with other strongly connected parts and work with them to restore the ecological balance in the inner world.

Parts of the Psyche

IFS model identifies a Self which is regarded as the spiritual core of the psyche having qualities like perspective, compassion and creativity. It broadly categorizes other different parts of the psyche into managers/protectors, fire-fighters and exiles. Like the name Internal Family System suggests, different components of the psyche are treated like people with whom it is possible to enter into communication.

Self
The Self is the center of compassion and nonjudgmental perspective in the psyche. Healing of the psyche happens through this state of Self. And after healing is effected, the goal of the IFS process is to have this Self as the master of the psyche where it properly organizes the work of the different parts. The Gurdjieff analogy of a house of servants comes to mind in this context. The Self in IFS terminology possibly plays the role of the steward in the house of servants after psychological healing. Jay Earley writes about the following characteristics of the Self from a psychological healing standpoint in the book "Self Therapy"
[quote author=Self Therapy with some paraphrasing for clarity]
The Self is the agent of psychological healing in IFS. It is, by nature, compassionate and curious about our parts. The Self wants to connect with each part and get to know it and heal it.
Let's look at four qualities of the Self that are particularly important for psychological healing. When you are in the Self, you will naturally embody these qualities.
1) The Self is connected. When you are in the Self, you naturally feel close to other people [or parts of the psyche] and want to relate in harmonious, supportive ways.
2) The Self is curious. When you are in the Self, you are curious about other people [or parts of the psyche] in an open, accepting way..........This curiosity comes from an accepting place, not a critical or judgemental one. When parts sense this genuine interest, they know they are entering a welcome environment, and they are not afraid to reveal themselves to you.
3) The Self is compassionate. Compassion is a form of kindness and love that arises when people [or parts of the psyche] are in pain. When you are in the Self, you naturally feel compassion for others as well as yourself.
4) The Self is calm, centered and grounded. This is especially helpful when you are relating to a part that has intense emotions. Intense grief or shame, for example, can be overwhelming if you are not grounded in the Self.
[/quote]

Protectors/managers
Protectors/managers are the parts of the psyche which are largely responsible for running our lives. They try to maintain functionality and keep the psyche safe. Due to traumatic life experiences (in childhood or later), these parts often take on extreme roles where they try to keep the psyche from feeling intense emotions and maintain the status quo. In this sense, they act like Buffers as described by Gurdjieff. Protectors/managers can block off pain that arises from deep inside the psyche so that it is not felt consciously. They also work towards arranging external circumstances so that this deep internal pain is not triggered by outside events. These are the parts which are accessed at first when doing inner work on the psyche.
Most protectors come to play extreme roles as a mechanism to cope with traumatic events - especially encountered in childhood. The dissociations described in "Myth Of Sanity" is attributed to the work of protectors in the IFS model. Protectors could use a variety of strategies - like closing off emotions by being overly intellectual, going into denial, compulsively meeting others' needs, projecting feelings on other people etc as defence mechanisms to protect the psyche. The strategies used are based on the level of knowledge and experience that the psyche had at the time when the traumatic events were experienced. So older the trauma, more primitive the coping strategy. These protectors fail to realize that the psyche is no longer a child and has more resources at its disposal to deal with adult life situations and is no longer as endangered by similar situations. Some protectors take on the role of the inner critic (or negative introject) mimicking a parent or authority figure.

Exiles
Exiles are young parts that suffered the original trauma in the past. These are the parts that hold the pain which the protectors are trying to keep from surfacing. Exiles are often stuck at a particular time in childhood at a specific age when it encountered some trauma. Sometimes, the trauma plays out over the years and the exile holding the trauma is not frozen at a single time point. In general, exiles exhibit a wide variety of painful memories - feeling lonely, abandoned, abused, betrayed, ashamed, angry,terrified, powerless etc. In addition, they have negative views about the world and themselves.
Because exiles hold the pain from past events, they are exiled by protectors into the dark recesses of the psyche, away from the light of consciousness. Earley makes a distinction between what is called the inner child and the exiles in the following way
[quote author=Self Therapy]
IFS uses the term exile to refer to what has been called the inner child. However, people often talk about the inner child as there were only one. In IFS, we recognize that there are many inner child parts or exiles, each carrying its own burden. Every exile must be healed in a way that is unique to it because each has its own feelings, burdens and memories.
[/quote]
These emotions and views held by exiles are called their burdens. IFS maintains that the parts are not defined by their burdens - they have their own intrinsic potential. So when the burdens are shed through therapy, the parts can take on a new and different role in the psyche.

Firefighters
Firefighters are dangerous parts inside the psyche (the name does not seem to do them justice - osit). Dr Schwartz writes
[quote author=Dr Schwartz]
[This] group of parts jumps into action whenever one of the exiles is upset to the point that it may flood the person with its extreme feelings or make the person vulnerable to being hurt again. When that is the case, this third group tries to douse the inner flames of feeling as quickly as possible, which earns them the name firefighters. They tend to be highly impulsive and strive to find stimulation that will override or dissociate from the exile's feelings. Bingeing on drugs, alcohol, food, sex, or work are common firefighter activities.
[/quote]
Self mutilation is also described as a firefighter inspired activity in the self-leadership website. Jay Earley writes that such firefighters can even cause somebody to have a traffic accident to prevent some locked up memory from being accessed. Reading this, it reminded me of DC Hammond's lecture "hypnosis in MPD" or the Greenbaum speech which I had read in the cassiopaea website few years back. In that lecture there was mention of self-destructive elements mind-programmed within the psyche to protect secrets - some really dark stuff. It seems that the IFS system scratched the surface in this regard with their "firefighter" part.

 

[obyvatel]

The IFS Process
With the framework laid down, it starts to get interesting. The goal of many psychotherapeutic techniques is to heal the inner child. In IFS, it would be healing the pain of the exiles. However, in the IFS process, the work begins with the protectors. IFS works in a cooperative environment with the protector parts rather than seeing them as enemies to be fought and subdued to gain access to the exiles they have locked away. My ideas on this subject was influenced by Castaneda's description of the "predator's mind". So I have been fighting to remove these aspects of the psyche which are treated differently in the IFS. IFS holds the view that the protectors are important in their own right and so it does not use strong-arm tactics against them. Earley writes
[quote author=Self Therapy]
It is not enough to heal our exiles; our protectors must also be healed and transformed so they can drop their defensive roles, let their positive qualities emerge, and assume healthy roles in the inner system.
[/quote]
In IFS, healing work begins with the protectors. Specific protectors are accessed and worked with. Only when all the protectors who are watching over a particular exile have given permission to the Self to access the exile, working with the exile begins. And once the particular exile has released its burdens, then one comes back to the various protectors who were involved with the exile and work with them to find more constructive and positive roles for them within the psyche. Jay Earley's book gives detailed step by step instructions with case studies illustrating the IFS process. I will try to review the key concepts here. The sequence of steps involved in the IFS process are as follows:

1. Getting to know a Protector
P1: Accessing the part
P2:Unblending target part
P3:Unblending concerned part
P4: Discovering the protector's role
P5: Developing a trusting relationship with the protector
2. Getting permission to work with an exile
3. Getting to know an exile
E1: Accessing an exile
E2: Unblending from an exile
E3: Unblending from concerned part
E4: Learning about an exile
E5: Accessing and witnessing childhood memories
4. Reparenting an exile
5. Retrieving an exile
6. Unburdening an exile
7. Transforming a protector


Working with protectors
P1: Accessing the part
Accessing a part can be done in real time when a particular situation triggers the part or it can be accessed based on memories of such situations - like mental pictures taken of the self at a time when a particular part is activated. IFS uses multiple channels to make contact with a target part -
a) feeling the emotions and attitudes of the part
b) body sensations that accompany the part
c) internal images that may represent the part
d) characteristic internal voice with which the part speaks
As an example Earley gives transcript of a session with a client where a part which is emotionally aloof appears has an accompanying body sensation of rigidity and the image of tin man from the Wizard of Oz.

P2:Unblending target part
It is very easy to get identified with a part that is activated - specially if it is accompanied by strong emotions. This identification is termed blending in IFS. All the steps of the IFS process requires the presence of an internal observer - the Self residing in the seat of consciousness of the psyche - which seems very similar to the divided attention practice in the Work. It is this Self that should observe the target part. If the target part occupies the seat of consciousness, then one is identified with it. If one is lost in the feelings or beliefs of the target part such that perspective is lost and not enough of the self is present, then it is necessary to unblend from it to continue the process. In sessions with a partner, when blending with the target part happens, the person starts speaking in the first person - like instead of saying that this part is angry he/she says that I am angry. One useful question to ask is "What are you feeling towards the part"? No answer could mean that the target part is itself sitting in the seat of observation.
When blending is recognized, in IFS it is suggested that a request be made to the part to vacate the seat of observation but continue to stay on in the consciousness. If no change in internal state is felt (or if not enough of the Self can be felt) a suggested question to the part is "What are you afraid would happen if you separated from me ?". Earley says that since we do usually push away parts that make us uncomfortable, the only way for such parts to get attention is to blend with us. So such a part needs some reassurance that it would be heard after it vacates the seat of consciousness. If this also fails, then some conscious mental separation or a centering exercise is suggested. Pipe breathing could be a good centering exercise in this context.

P3:Unblending concerned part
Sometimes it may not be the target part which occupies the seat of consciousness but some other part which has strong feelings towards it - eg a part that judges the target part. To recognize such a blending, it is useful to ask oneself what one is feeling towards the target part at the present moment. If the Self is residing in the seat of consciousness, the feeling is likely to be one of openness, compassion and curiosity. If fear, judgment etc come up, then it is possible that a concerned part is blending with the Self.
If the process is continued in the state where a concerned part is blended with the self, the target part may not reveal itself completely which is the goal. To unblend, attention is temporarily shifted to the concerned part who is asked what its worries are regarding the target part. After that, the concerned part is requested to step back so that the Self can get to know the target part with an open attitude. The concerned part may need some reassurance that the target part would not be allowed to swamp the psyche and the Self is competent enough to lead the process. If the concerned part is very stubborn and would not budge, then it may be necessary to make this part the target part and work on it first.

P4: Discovering the protector's role
In this step, we inhabit the Self and get to know about the protector by asking questions and listening to its responses. While the unblending steps makes sure that one is not lost in the emotions, letting the target part speak about itself keeps the exercise from becoming purely intellectual (where one is working with the idea of what the target part is instead of really getting to know it). Some useful questions addressed to the target part could be
What do you feel?
What are you concerned about?
What is your role? What do you do to perform this role?
What do you hope to accomplish by playing this role?
What are you afraid would happen if you did not perform your role?
Responses to the questions need not always be words but also body sensations, emotions or images which may arise in the mind. Or sometimes it could be a direct intuitive knowing.
The last question usually leads to an exile which the protector is trying to shut out of consciousness. In general, a protector could be either protecting an exile that it cares about (like a big brother/sister for example) or it could be protecting the psyche from an exile who carries painful memories. In this step, one finds out about the positive intent that the protector may have though its actions may cause grave problems in real life. For example, a protector who may react with anger at the slightest provocation when queried "What are you afraid would happen if you did not perform this role" may reply that "Then you will be controlled by other people and become a puppet on a string". Such a dynamic may stem from the fear and victimization of an exile who was controlled like a puppet in childhood and the protector learnt that being angry was the defence mechanism to cope with such situations. It continues to respond in the same extreme way in adult life thus causing immense trouble.

P5: Developing a trusting relationship with the protector
IFS considers most of the protectors to be misguided but ultimately well-intentioned in its own limited way. The goal is to develop a connection with these protectors so that they can trust the Self and allow access to the underlying exile to be healed. Showing appreciation for its efforts and acknowledging the contributions it has in life can be way to make the protectors relax their rigid and inflexible stance. In the beginning, there may be trust issues resulting from previous betrayals where the protector was left to fend for itself and the exile on its own without help from the Self or external agencies. So patience and persistence may be required to develop this trusting connection with some of the stronger and more sullen protectors.

2. Getting permission from the protector to work on an exile
One can get a sense of the exile being guarded by the protector while working with the protector. Sometimes the exile's emotions come up and its voice can be heard while conversing with the protector. The answer to the question "What are you afraid would happen if you did not perform your role" usually would point to the exile. Sometimes, there could be multiple protectors guarding one exile or one protector guarding multiple exiles.
IFS finds working with an exile after getting permission from its protectors useful for long term change. One could sidestep all the protectors and try to heal the exile leading to some dramatic cathartic healing but in the long term the protector could reconstitute itself and make the changes in the psyche only temporary. Some common fears that a protector has that can lead to barring access to the exile are
- the exile's emotions would overwhelm the psyche
- there is no point, healing is not possible
- the protector fears that it would be eliminated if the exile is healed
- the exile will be harmed
- some dangerous secret could be revealed
- a more dangerous protector (like a fireman) could be triggered
These fears need to be addressed with appropriate reasoning and reassurances.

 

[obyvatel]

Working with exiles

E1: Accessing the exile
The identified target exile is contacted experientially using multiple channels - similar to the step P1 for accessing the protectors.

E2: Unblending from the exile
While working with intense childhood pain, there is a danger of getting overwhelmed and consequently shutting out the exile. One has to constantly stay in the Self to properly relate to and work with exiles. Some helpful indicators of being in the Self - a fullness or solidity in the belly, calmness and relaxation in the body - a gentle compassionate loving quality in the heart.
IFS finds it helpful to negotiate an agreement with the exile.
[quote author=Self Therapy]
Ask the exile not to flood you with his emotions and pain so that you can be there for him and help him. Explain to the exile that you will be able to hear his story and help him if you remain in the Self. You are not asking the exile to block his feelings; you are not suggesting that he should not feel his emotions. You are simply asking him to keep those feelings separate from you so you can be in a solid place to help. This is one of the most powerful innovations of the IFS method. Schwartz discovered that exiles have the capacity to cooperate in the healing process and contain the intensity of what you experience, if they want to.
[/quote]

E3: Unblending from the concerned parts
This is similar to the procedure in step P3. While working with a protector, an open and curious attitude of the self was adequate - but while working with an exile, the level of compassion in the Self needs to be very high. Earley makes a distinction between compassion and empathy here. He treats empathy as a way of resonating with other's feelings while compassion is a feeling of loving kindness towards the pain of the exile. Empathy often leads to compassion. While working with an exile, only empathy (resonance) with the exile's feelings may lead to blending and loss of contact with the Self. With compassion however, the separation is maintained with the exile which helps to stay in the Self.

E4: Learning about the exile
This is again similar to step P4. Something to keep in mind is that some exiles may be so young that they cannot communicate in words and one needs to use emotions or body senses to learn about them.

E5: Accessing and witnessing childhood memories
Once it is known what the exile feels (his burden) from step E4, it is suggested to ask him to show what caused him to pick up this burden. It is important for this memory to come from the exile and not from an intellectual scanning of memory banks. Sometimes a memory could emerge spontaneously.Sometimes fragments emerge at a time. Sometimes there is a repeating underlying pattern which may not have one explicit image or situation.
There are two important aspects to the memory accessed - what happened and how it made the exile feel.

4. Reparenting an exile
While we cannot change the past, we can change the effect that past has on us. Reparenting the exile involves joining the exile in the original childhood situation in the imagination. The Self accompanies the exile in the traumatic situation providing support, compassion, understanding and encouragement. It is important to sense what the exile needs to be healed and providing that through imagination. Earley says that such reparenting process actually lays down new neural pathways in the brain which could lead to dramatic life changes.
Sometimes the exile may need to change something in the original childhood situation. For example, the exile may ask to be protected from an abusive parent. In such a case, IFS recommends reworking the situation in imagination in such a way that the abuse is stopped. This may mean intervention or explaining to the parent what they are doing is detrimental.

5. Retrieving an exile
This is an optional step - if the exile wants to be taken out of the childhood situation. The exile may choose to go to a happy, safe place and stay there. While it may seem that retrieval is about pretending that the original incident did not occur, IFS contends that the exile need not be frozen in the past - he just thinks he is. The exile exists in the present like other parts and hence retrieving can bring her closer to present reality.

6. Unburdening an exile
The unburdening step is the culmination of the work with the exile where the exile releases its burden to a natural element like fire, water, air, earth or light. The unburdening step is for a specific memory and burdens that came with it.

7. Transforming the protector
Once an exile is unburdened, the corresponding protector may be free to change as well. It can pick a different role in the psyche. If the protector is willing, it can follow the a similar ritual as the exile by releasing its burden to the natural elements.



Overall I found the IFS process interesting since it integrates some diverse elements under an elegant framework. What I read did not show any evidence of knowledge about pathology. The assertion that all parts of the psyche are valuable - what appears as negative is basically well-intentioned but misguided - gave me a pause. Some food for thought.

 

[ana]

What I read did not show any evidence of knowledge about pathology. The assertion that all parts of the psyche are valuable - what appears as negative is basically well-intentioned but misguided - gave me a pause. Some food for thought.

Maybe because the healing and growth terapies are destined to those who have the ground and energy to do it. So pathology in this instance is due to lack of conscious integration of the elements of the psyche.

Oviously it cannot work with individuals in a state of primary integration as described by Dąbrowski they simply lack the necessary connection with the inner world, they are (Externall creatures), osit

I think this is great stuff, it is interesting to have as many views on psyche healing and growth as possible, because several people needs several approaches even if in the end all of them share common traits.
So thanks for sharing obyvatel :)

 

[Buddy]

If you want to come to grips with the inner child issue, I have a story and two methods that you might find useful and time-saving.

I had an experience with my 'inner child' that shocked me to my core, and we all know the value of shocks to burn away parts of the false personality and re-organize our knowledge don't we?

I was in a "clay modeling" class. The teacher gave us all the same idea to model. We were presented a concept as well as a brief written explanation of the concept. We had some clay and some tiny scraps of paper and a pencil. Our job was to model our understanding of the concept. Once were were done, the teacher's job was to look at our model to see how well (if at all) it communicated the concept.

Well, my first model was two-dimensional, flat on the table with a few pieces of paper with some writing on it to "explain" what some of the pieces represented. WRONG WRONG WRONG!

Of course, I was never invalidated by the teacher or anyone else, as that would have been too cruel, but when I personally compared my model to others (juxtaposition) I realized then and there, as deeply as humanly possible, what my problem was. I didn't need anyone to tell me.

Other people's models were 3 dimensional with the scene being observed from a location above the model. Mine was two dimensional with a point of view at about knee-to-waist-level to an adult. Do you know what that means? It means, concerning my understanding of this concept I was nothing but a small child with my 'flat, two-dimensional, internal thinking space as the dominant focal point of my awareness.

As you can probably imagine, my emotional reaction to this sudden realization corresponded to that point of view - hurt, humiliated and angry.

To make a long story a bit shorter, the bits of paper are a no-no. The ideal is to clay model a concept or 'incident' in your life that communicates your understanding of it from the highest, 3 dimensional, wide-context view possible, that would represent an accurate, objective, detached perspective, OSIT. Of course, this has to be done with the understandings from recapitulation and the basic psychology material as background.

You can do this with real clay or as a thought experiment. If you have to use words to 'explain' what something means, then you have assigned emotional significance to something out-of-proportion to it's objective, in context meaning. IOW, instead of experiencing emotion related to the overall meaning of the experience in context with your whole life, you experience aspects or fragments with too much significance (self-important, personal meaning in a "this is me" identification kind of way).

Does this make sense?

The other method is to write out (journal) the story of an experience in as full detail as possible until every aspect of reality, that you can remember, is taken into account in that experience (like a detailed autobiographical account). It doesn't matter how long it is - even if it's a book, because you are eventually going to fully understand everything about the experience and are going to summarize the entire thing in one sentence.

You start by summarizing each paragraph into a single sentence. Then all the paragraphs in a section with one sentence, then each chapter in a single sentence, then whole related chapters in a sentence or two. Finally, summarize the entire book in a one-word sentence, if possible, or as tightly condensed as you can.

This is very, very hard to do and you could practice with any written material. But with practice, it gets easier and when you have reached the highest level abstraction of this experience, or any other, or even your entire life, then your self-monitor has climbed from the depths of inner identification to the topmost cognitive loop step-by agonizing step. This is surfing your own wave, and this is where you need to be, OSIT. It's also consistent with the location of the "assemblage point" being at the surface of the luminous egg, in Don Juan's terminology.

Once you've successfully experienced this process at least once, you will probably never fail to notice when you have become identified and lost your overview awareness. Or when you do become self-absorbed, you will self-remember more and more quickly, OSIT.

I just thought this might be useful, so just consider it fwiw.


---------------
Edit: spelling

 

[obyvatel]

If you want to come to grips with the inner child issue, I have a story and two methods that you might find useful and time-saving.
...................................

To make a long story a bit shorter, the bits of paper are a no-no. The ideal is to clay model a concept or 'incident' in your life that communicates your understanding of it from the highest, 3 dimensional, wide-context view possible, that would represent an accurate, objective, detached perspective, OSIT. Of course, this has to be done with the understandings from recapitulation and the basic psychology material as background.

You can do this with real clay or as a thought experiment. If you have to use words to 'explain' what something means, then you have assigned emotional significance to something out-of-proportion to it's objective, in context meaning. IOW, instead of experiencing emotion related to the overall meaning of the experience in context with your whole life, you experience aspects or fragments with too much significance (self-important, personal meaning in a "this is me" identification kind of way).

Does this make sense?

I don't think I get it but I would want to express what I understood. I have read about art therapy being used for bringing out inner child issues. But your description of the process seems to indicate (if I understood it correctly) viewing some incident (which in this context would mean something related to hurts and pains suffered in childhood) from a very objective and detached perspective. By my current understanding, such a view is possible from the standpoint of the adult self. A sensitive adult could look back at a childhood incident, even feel some emotion connected to it - but find that the reaction to the incident was "out of proportion" as you mentioned. Does such an understanding do anything to heal the wounded parts of the psyche trapped in the hurtful memory of that incident? Once that wounded part has been healed and integrated in the overall psyche, then a really objective perspective can be formed but the healing has to come first - osit.

[quote author=Bud]
The other method is to write out (journal) the story of an experience in as full detail as possible until every aspect of reality, that you can remember, is taken into account in that experience (like a detailed autobiographical account). It doesn't matter how long it is - even if it's a book, because you are eventually going to fully understand everything about the experience and are going to summarize the entire thing in one sentence.

You start by summarizing each paragraph into a single sentence. Then all the paragraphs in a section with one sentence, then each chapter in a single sentence, then whole related chapters in a sentence or two. Finally, summarize the entire book in a one-word sentence, if possible, or as tightly condensed as you can.

This is very, very hard to do and you could practice with any written material. But with practice, it gets easier and when you have reached the highest level abstraction of this experience, or any other, or even your entire life, then your self-monitor has climbed from the depths of inner identification to the topmost cognitive loop step-by agonizing step. This is surfing your own wave, and this is where you need to be, OSIT. It's also consistent with the location of the "assemblage point" being at the surface of the luminous egg, in Don Juan's terminology.

Once you've successfully experienced this process at least once, you will probably never fail to notice when you have become identified and lost your overview awareness. Or when you do become self-absorbed, you will self-remember more and more quickly, OSIT.

[/quote]

I have found journalling very helpful. But I do not see how summarizing everything into a single sentence or as tightly condensed as possible helps in healing inner wounds . I can see that the exercise involves cognitive processing which could lead to the detection of places where we are "identified" - but I do not see how this leads to actually addressing the conditions which are responsible for such identification.
When I journal about past hurtful experiences, my goal is to capture the emotions as I felt it at that time, without censoring and judgment. EE has helped a lot in accessing some of these old memories and journalling has brought it out into the open. I can also recognize the real life triggers which bring up these issues - sometimes at the moment they arise but more commonly when I process the events later. At this stage I have encountered the IFS work which is the topic of this thread. Treating the different components of the psyche as individual persons with their own motivations, feelings and way of relating to the world seems very natural to me as I have felt these different voices within my head for a long time. Some of the techniques IFS talks about I had seen in the recommended books and some posts in the forum - like really experiencing the hurt child's emotions, mourning the lost childhood, releasing the burden through a gesture like burning letters etc. The IFS process brings everything together in a framework - and talks about some interesting things like working with the "protector parts" instead of sweeping them aside to get to old childhood memories, and the concept of re-parenting the hurt child selves which according to the author lays down new neural circuitry to really bring about lasting changes.
By my current understanding, these hurt parts of the selves really hinder us from forming a more objective picture of reality - they tend to drag us back to the past and makes us relate to the present through the filters of past events. As the adult observer self gets stronger it can sometimes catch these wounded child selves (or their protectors) from taking control of the psyche and override them. But is this enough for true integration of the self? The last step in the IFS process which talks about protectors being freed up from their burdens and taking up useful roles in the psyche seems more like integration. For example, the same part which intellectualized any emotion so that pain would not be felt, after being released of its burdens could be used for abstract philosophical thinking. In Work terms it wound mean the right use of the centers - intellectual center energy being used for activity which is natural to it.

 

[Buddy]

...your description of the process seems to indicate (if I understood it correctly) viewing some incident (which in this context would mean something related to hurts and pains suffered in childhood) from a very objective and detached perspective. By my current understanding, such a view is possible from the standpoint of the adult self.

Correct. Which would be you when all your experience(s) have been integrated with:

A sensitive adult could look back at a childhood incident, even feel some emotion connected to it - but find that the reaction to the incident was "out of proportion" as you mentioned. Does such an understanding do anything to heal the wounded parts of the psyche trapped in the hurtful memory of that incident?

No. That particular understanding is not what heals. That's only one of the steps and it comes by way of realization. But, at that point in the modeling, the process is not yet complete.

As a child, it's not any reaction to an incident that's "out of proportion". The child doesn't have "an inner child". It's when we become physical adults and we still carry around out-of-proportion emotional assignments to things that were never really very personally meant since they originated from others acting as sleeping reaction machines. Unless we're talking about conscious evil, people were just running their programs and not really seeing you, except as a "human object" to which they were trained to direct "I love you - this is for your own good" type of programs, as well as many more. And you didn't know that then, nor did you know how to act towards, react to or address the programs of humans behaving like machines.

Once that wounded part has been healed and integrated in the overall psyche, then a really objective perspective can be formed but the healing has to come first - osit.

Well, when you say: "Once that wounded part has been healed and integrated in the overall psyche, then a really objective perspective can be formed...", I see THAT as the healing. And why not? Emotional "wounds" are real, but "wound" is only a metaphor for the pain of the empathic/emotional disconnects, both from reality and from others. Once you achieve what you just stated, you have already reconnected those threads. If a disconnect forms a wound, then a reconnect heals it - metaphorically and literally. I'm assuming you've had your skin cut and re-healed before? Same concept, just different context, OSIT.

I have found journalling very helpful. But I do not see how summarizing everything into a single sentence or as tightly condensed as possible helps in healing inner wounds . I can see that the exercise involves cognitive processing which could lead to the detection of places where we are "identified" - but I do not see how this leads to actually addressing the conditions which are responsible for such identification.

I'm assuming you've read the online Wave. Can you see the Wave forwards and backwards? Speaking very generally and starting with Laura's earlier situation, we see that she suffered, researched, integrated relevant material, connected the threads of her life experiences to the data of reality, achieved understanding and presented it in writing.

In the forward direction, we see adversity and effort evolving a process of growth of knowledge and being, which involved a reciprocal process of integrating data and going back to connect all the threads that are weaving throughout the story at any given point.

In the backward direction, we can see each page of approx. 10,000 words connected together in logical sections per page, condensing into approx. 42 chapter titles - all of which eventually condense into "The Wave, by Laura Knight-Jadczyk".

Now, compare that with:

I can see that the exercise involves cognitive processing which could lead to the detection of places where we are "identified" - but I do not see how this leads to actually addressing the conditions which are responsible for such identification.

Then you see "The Wave" as just a story, minus the simultaneous doing of the non-linear research and integration combined with the dynamics of living and suffering through the experience? That's all I was talking about, really.

When I journal about past hurtful experiences, my goal is to capture the emotions as I felt it at that time, without censoring and judgment. EE has helped a lot in accessing some of these old memories and journalling has brought it out into the open. I can also recognize the real life triggers which bring up these issues - sometimes at the moment they arise but more commonly when I process the events later. At this stage I have encountered the IFS work which is the topic of this thread.

Yes, I did go off topic. I suppose I should apologize for that, but after having been exposed to several possible methods of "working with the inner child", you still prefer IFS, then that might be the best way to go for you - especially if it feels natural.

Treating the different components of the psyche as individual persons with their own motivations, feelings and way of relating to the world seems very natural to me as I have felt these different voices within my head for a long time. Some of the techniques IFS talks about I had seen in the recommended books and some posts in the forum - like really experiencing the hurt child's emotions, mourning the lost childhood, releasing the burden through a gesture like burning letters etc. The IFS process brings everything together in a framework - and talks about some interesting things like working with the "protector parts" instead of sweeping them aside to get to old childhood memories, and the concept of re-parenting the hurt child selves which according to the author lays down new neural circuitry to really bring about lasting changes.
By my current understanding, these hurt parts of the selves really hinder us from forming a more objective picture of reality - they tend to drag us back to the past and makes us relate to the present through the filters of past events. As the adult observer self gets stronger it can sometimes catch these wounded child selves (or their protectors) from taking control of the psyche and override them. But is this enough for true integration of the self? The last step in the IFS process which talks about protectors being freed up from their burdens and taking up useful roles in the psyche seems more like integration. For example, the same part which intellectualized any emotion so that pain would not be felt, after being released of its burdens could be used for abstract philosophical thinking. In Work terms it wound mean the right use of the centers - intellectual center energy being used for activity which is natural to it.

I completely understand where you're coming from and wish you only the best results for your efforts. :)

 

[Risen]

This is great stuff, obyvatel. Thank you for sharing. I can see the relation to The Work . You have explained the process well. I don't think I would have understood the quotes without your comments. I am not able to post much at this time but please post more on this if you are able. It has been valuable to me and I am grateful.

 

[anart]

You start by summarizing each paragraph into a single sentence. Then all the paragraphs in a section with one sentence, then each chapter in a single sentence, then whole related chapters in a sentence or two. Finally, summarize the entire book in a one-word sentence, if possible, or as tightly condensed as you can.

This is very, very hard to do and you could practice with any written material. But with practice, it gets easier and when you have reached the highest level abstraction of this experience, or any other, or even your entire life, then your self-monitor has climbed from the depths of inner identification to the topmost cognitive loop step-by agonizing step. This is surfing your own wave, and this is where you need to be, OSIT. It's also consistent with the location of the "assemblage point" being at the surface of the luminous egg, in Don Juan's terminology.

Once you've successfully experienced this process at least once, you will probably never fail to notice when you have become identified and lost your overview awareness. Or when you do become self-absorbed, you will self-remember more and more quickly, OSIT.

I don't know about this, Bud. It sounds like the height of intellectualization - which is really not beneficial in the long run. Without heart, you've got nothing - and one could never summarize an event in one sentence when using the heart. I don't think pulling things so far out intellectually that they are at such a distance as to be easily summarized by one sentence is a healthy goal. It seems the opposite of living in the present, which takes an in-depth understanding of the past. fwiw.

 

[paralleloscope]

I really like the explanation of this theory and how well it seems to fit with fourth way operation, like the separation of the exiles feeling from the observer (divided attention). I will try using using some of the framework for a seeded meditation. Thanks

You start by summarizing each paragraph into a single sentence. Then all the paragraphs in a section with one sentence, then each chapter in a single sentence, then whole related chapters in a sentence or two. Finally, summarize the entire book in a one-word sentence, if possible, or as tightly condensed as you can.

This is very, very hard to do and you could practice with any written material. But with practice, it gets easier and when you have reached the highest level abstraction of this experience, or any other, or even your entire life, then your self-monitor has climbed from the depths of inner identification to the topmost cognitive loop step-by agonizing step. This is surfing your own wave, and this is where you need to be, OSIT. It's also consistent with the location of the "assemblage point" being at the surface of the luminous egg, in Don Juan's terminology.

Once you've successfully experienced this process at least once, you will probably never fail to notice when you have become identified and lost your overview awareness. Or when you do become self-absorbed, you will self-remember more and more quickly, OSIT.

I don't know about this, Bud. It sounds like the height of intellectualization - which is really not beneficial in the long run. Without heart, you've got nothing - and one could never summarize an event in one sentence when using the heart. I don't think pulling things so far out intellectually that they are at such a distance as to be easily summarized by one sentence is a healthy goal. It seems the opposite of living in the present, which takes an in-depth understanding of the past. fwiw.

FWIW, Bud I agree with Anart. Your whole 'compression' theory seem quite the left brain deal, having theory envelope reality.

Once I was under the influence of a friend who taught me how to compact communication, after a few years of this I had learnt to compress big chunks of macro data into a small sentences. My daily language became quite abbreviated which in which few grasped the gist of what I was trying to convey. This was really detrimental in learning to express my feelings.

I realize what you are proposing is somewhat different, as it has to do with private communication albeit theoretical it seems, discovering relationships within. The contractile taste of it to my buds is intellectual domination. It sounds like you are surfing your own wave, regarding wounds to be tallied in a complex taxonomy, not merging with, OSIT.

Wether or not I am rigth about this Bud, this has been an eye opener to my own 'leftist' approaches. IFS seems to be reciprocal across the brain divide.

 

[pstott]

Thank you for starting this thread Obyvatel - I have just come apon it and can see that it will indeed take some work, but there is real possibility of results here.

I have often wondered why I react to some things in an illogical way and now I think maybe I can find some answers. I had a somewhat traumatic childhood that no doubt created a lot of mechanisms for burying /avoiding pain. Time to shed some light apon them.

 

[Buddy]

anart and parallel, thanks for the feedback. From my perspective, the 'heart' work is not missing in the process, just in the way I wrote it out, apparently. My apologies for the confusion, and I hope this will help clarify. If not, please feel free to point it out .

I think, maybe my explanation of the process took too much for granted as being understood. I was just talking about a recapitulation that starts with the ground of one's experience, and within the framework of the basic psychology.

It is a painful process, but one that steadily reaches for the highest level abstract understanding that represents the 'essence' of the experience (compression). It can be done as trapped emotion is cleared each step along the way. It does, indeed, 'clear the eyes' to see more clearly.

I'm not referring to intellectual-only understanding. The heart is included in every step and blended with the intellect on each level, just like the different emotions, or feelings themselves, naturally have a different associated or corresponding quality and kind of thought.

At that point of highest level abstract understanding, all identification (short-circuits between levels of abstraction) has been removed by means of the conscious Work done and one can semantically reduce this level of understanding all the way back to the ground (expansion) without obstruction or short-circuiting caused by confused levels of abstraction.

The idea, as I've been working it, is based on the hypotheses that to have a unified I, there has to be non-contradictory self-consistency in the human system eventually, and the intellect is only one component of 'understanding'.


----------------
Edit: sentence structure for clarity of meaning

 

[obyvatel]

In the backward direction, we can see each page of approx. 10,000 words connected together in logical sections per page, condensing into approx. 42 chapter titles - all of which eventually condense into "The Wave, by Laura Knight-Jadczyk".

Now, compare that with:

I can see that the exercise involves cognitive processing which could lead to the detection of places where we are "identified" - but I do not see how this leads to actually addressing the conditions which are responsible for such identification.

Then you see "The Wave" as just a story, minus the simultaneous doing of the non-linear research and integration combined with the dynamics of living and suffering through the experience? That's all I was talking about, really.

The exercise I was referring to was
[quote author=Bud]
You start by summarizing each paragraph into a single sentence. Then all the paragraphs in a section with one sentence, then each chapter in a single sentence, then whole related chapters in a sentence or two. Finally, summarize the entire book in a one-word sentence, if possible, or as tightly condensed as you can.
[/quote]

The degree of condensing that you referred to in your earlier quote (just above) is significantly different from what is done in the Wave. Also, there is a difference in scale and context between Laura writing the Wave and an ordinary Joe Schmoe like me journaling to figure out pieces of my past in the hope of integrating the self.

[quote author=Bud]
At that point of highest level abstract understanding, all identification (short-circuits between levels of abstraction) has been removed by means of the conscious Work done and one can semantically reduce this level of understanding all the way back to the ground (expansion) without obstruction or short-circuiting caused by confused levels of abstraction.
[/quote]
I do not understand what the above means. If this means that you can reduce your experience to a single sentence or a similar highly condensed form and this exercise helps in healing narcissistic wounding to the psyche, then yes, this process does not seem practical to me at my current level of understanding.
It could be just me, but sometimes I have a hard time trying to make out what you are trying to communicate in practical terms. I have not mentioned it before but since this has come up in this thread again, I thought I would point it out.

 

[ana]

At that point of highest level abstract understanding, all identification (short-circuits
between levels of abstraction) has been removed by means of the conscious Work done and one can semantically reduce this level of understanding all the way back to the ground (expansion) without obstruction or short-circuiting caused by confused levels of abstraction.

I do not understand what the above means. If this means that you can reduce your experience to a single sentence or a similar highly condensed form and this exercise helps in healing narcissistic wounding to the psyche, then yes, this process does not seem practical to me at my current level of understanding.
It could be just me, but sometimes I have a hard time trying to make out what you are trying to communicate in practical terms. I have not mentioned it before but since this has come up in this thread again, I thought I would point it out.

Same here, as I see it, the degree of hability to comunicate is proportional to the understanding so that giving (comunicating) equals being (understanding). Bud i think you find yourself trying to convey things wich you do not understand yourself, with no practical understanding, and it ends sounding as metaphysical word salad wich is rooted in subjectivity:

Subjectivity is so pervasive to the human condition that it is difficult to say where this would not hold sway. We could say that subjectivity is the capacity to experience things in a personally specific manner, often so as not to be able to explain these to another in a manner that would be perceived in a compatible way by this other. The tendency to subjectivity could be said to be the principal obstacle to clear communication between people.

And so I think you are not paying attention outside yourself :), not seeing others, not seeing your ideas, concepts, thoughts from the "outside".
That amounts to identification wich is related to the absence of an internal "observer" (the self residing in the seat of consciousness of the psyche as described in the above therapeutic model)

The idea, as I've been working it, is based on the hypotheses that to have a unified I, there has to be non-contradictory self-consistency in the human system eventually

So as to not to start the cart before the horse, it is not that there has to be no contradictions but that we need to see them, so that fusion starts, since actually buffers "help us" to avoid seeing contradictions.

Fusion
In Mouravieff, fusion is the process of forming a 'real' or 'permanent I' out of the multiple little I's which generally constitute man's personality. The process is explained with the analogy of a vase filled with iron filings. In the default situation, each filing points in its own direction. Shocks may cause displacement and rotation of the filings, causing heat. This heat is elsewhere referred to as the struggle between yes and no.
Shocks and internal struggle may in time heat the filings to be hot enough so that they melt into a single block of iron.

Heating the Crucible
In QFS parlance, this expression means receiving shocks and using these as catalyst for internal change, generally for building cohesion between little I's. In order to do, one must be. But one cannot be, nor wish, nor do, without having internal consistency. Without internal consistency, action just happens as a result of activating one or another program which happens to have been installed by circumstance into the person.

Heating the crucible involves internal friction, a struggle between yes and no, as Gurdjieff puts it. Little I's and programs cannot be discovered unless they are activated and one attempts to work against their pull. Heating the crucible, i.e. receiving shocks and working against one's default responses while remembering oneself is a way of first knowing oneself and then creating cohesion.
The word annealing, which means repeatedly heating and cooling a piece of metal while shaping it, relates to this process. Several repetitions of the same or similar shocks are needed for achieving permanent results.

Cooling too fast makes brittle metal and in the allegory would correspond to self-calming, i.e. denying or rejecting the shock or dissociating it. Not cooling at all is not good either since one cannot function in a state of permanent shock, besides this too leads to dissensitization which is not the objective.

The word crucible is used in alchemical language probably to denote the human as a whole. It is a vessel in which a substance is being prepared. Gurdjieff uses the analogy of a chemical factory for the same or similar concept. The terms just come from different ages and cultures.

"Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony".
Heraclitus

 

[anart]

anart and parallel, thanks for the feedback. From my perspective, the 'heart' work is not missing in the process, just in the way I wrote it out, apparently. My apologies for the confusion, and I hope this will help clarify. If not, please feel free to point it out .

I think, maybe my explanation of the process took too much for granted as being understood. I was just talking about a recapitulation that starts with the ground of one's experience, and within the framework of the basic psychology.

It is a painful process, but one that steadily reaches for the highest level abstract understanding that represents the 'essence' of the experience (compression). It can be done as trapped emotion is cleared each step along the way. It does, indeed, 'clear the eyes' to see more clearly.

I'm not referring to intellectual-only understanding. The heart is included in every step and blended with the intellect on each level, just like the different emotions, or feelings themselves, naturally have a different associated or corresponding quality and kind of thought.

At that point of highest level abstract understanding, all identification (short-circuits between levels of abstraction) has been removed by means of the conscious Work done and one can semantically reduce this level of understanding all the way back to the ground (expansion) without obstruction or short-circuiting caused by confused levels of abstraction.

The idea, as I've been working it, is based on the hypotheses that to have a unified I, there has to be non-contradictory self-consistency in the human system eventually, and the intellect is only one component of 'understanding'.


----------------
Edit: sentence structure for clarity of meaning

Why would you want 'abstract understanding', much less the 'highest level of abstract understanding'? What does that really mean? Bud, the above comes across as word salad - or, more accurately, as a mimicking of true understanding, going through the motions, following a vaguely understood formula comprised of distance when 'up-close and intimate understanding' is the key to freedom. I could certainly be completely misunderstanding you, but, if so - then it is because you cannot explain what you mean in a way that others easily understand. Perhaps Ana hit the target with her statement that:

Bud i think you find yourself trying to convey things which you do not understand yourself, with no practical understanding, and it ends sounding as metaphysical word salad which is rooted in subjectivity