DIRECTIONS FOR USE (When to use)
- Use when self-criticism, shame, or inner attacks feel constant and exhausting.
- Use when different parts of you want opposing things and you feel stuck or internally conflicted.
- Use when you understand something logically, but another part of you resists change.
- Use when reactions feel younger, bigger, or more intense than your adult self would choose.
- Use when you feel fragmented, disconnected, or unsure who you are beneath survival strategies.
SUPPLEMENT FACTS
Active Formulation: Internal Family Systems–Informed Therapy
Origins & Evolution: Parts work refers to a family of therapeutic approaches that understand the psyche as naturally composed of different “parts,” each with its own role, perspective, and history. Internal Family Systems (IFS), developed by Richard Schwartz, is one of the most influential and well-known models within this family and has deeply shaped contemporary parts-based therapy.
Historical Roots: The idea that the mind contains multiple aspects or sub-personalities appears across cultures, spiritual traditions, and healing systems long before modern psychotherapy. Parts work brings this ancient understanding into a trauma-informed clinical context, emphasizing that symptoms are not flaws—but adaptive responses shaped by lived experience.
Clinical Efficacy: Parts-based approaches have demonstrated effectiveness in working with trauma, complex PTSD, anxiety, depression, attachment wounds, chronic shame, self-criticism, emotional dysregulation, and internal conflict. This work is especially helpful when people feel polarized within themselves or caught in cycles of inner struggle.
Primary Mechanism: Focuses on building a respectful internal relationship. By identifying, understanding, and engaging with different parts of the self, parts work reduces internal polarization and supports integration. Healing occurs not by eliminating parts, but by helping them feel safe, heard, and no longer forced into extreme roles.
Key Distinction: There are no “bad” parts. Even parts that feel destructive, confusing, or overwhelming developed with protective intentions. Symptom relief often follows when parts no longer have to work so hard to protect you.
INGREDIENTS
The Internal System:
- Protective Parts: Parts that manage daily functioning, prevent pain, or maintain control.
- Reactive Parts: Parts that respond quickly to overwhelm, often through numbing, distraction, or urgency.
- Vulnerable Parts: Parts that carry unmet needs, emotional wounds, or experiences from earlier stages of life.
(Parts language is adapted to fit each person’s internal world.)
Core Elements:
- Curiosity instead of judgment
- Compassionate witnessing
- Unblending: Learning to notice parts without being overtaken by them
- Internal communication and repair
- The 6 F’s (informed by IFS):
- Find: Noticing a part that is present
- Focus: Gently staying with it
- Flesh out: Learning how it shows up (thoughts, emotions, sensations)
- Feel toward: Noticing your attitude toward the part
- Befriend: Approaching with curiosity and respect
- Fear: Understanding what the part is afraid would happen if it didn’t do its job
(Think of the 6 F’s as a way of getting to know a part, not something to “do right.”)
Additional Ingredients:
- Somatic awareness and nervous system tracking
- Visualization and imagery
- Grounding and resourcing
- Attachment-informed repair
USER’S MANUAL
Respect the System:
I am not here to force harmony or silence parts. My role is to help create enough safety for your internal system to be approached with respect and consent. While this work is informed by established models, it is always adapted to you—your language, your pace, and your nervous system.
No part is rushed. No part is required to trust before it is ready.
My use of parts work is informed by extensive training in IFS principles, ongoing study, and personal practice, while remaining flexible and integrative rather than model-exclusive.
WARNINGS:
Attempting to bypass, suppress, or exile parts may increase internal distress.
Some parts may initially resist this work due to past experiences of being misunderstood or overpowered.
Strong emotions can emerge as parts feel seen or acknowledged.
Careful pacing and collaboration are essential.
Drug Interactions (Synergy):
Parts work often combines well with other supplements. It may be paired with EMDR to support trauma processing, or with ACT to help parts orient around shared values rather than internal conflict.
Dosage Instructions:
Begin with gentle curiosity. Short, respectful check-ins are often more effective than intensive exploration. This work is titrated carefully and collaboratively.
Storage:
Store within a therapeutic relationship grounded in trust, consent, and attunement. Keep in a place of patience, compassion, and respect for complexity.
These supplement descriptions are provided for educational and reflective purposes. They describe how different therapeutic approaches may be used and integrated within my clinical work, rather than offering a standardized or one-size-fits-all treatment. All formulations are customized based on individual needs, consent, readiness, and the therapeutic relationship.