Internal Family Systems Therapy for Families, Children, and Couples
This is an annotated bibliography of several review articles on the use of the Internal Family Systems modality with families, children, and couples. If you are a therapist, you may find this information useful in working with these types of clients. If you are client, these considerations may be helpful to you in terms of better understanding your relationships with your family, children, and partners. Enjoy!
Article 1. “Internal Family Systems Work with Children and Families”
Internal Family Systems Therapy Overview
Internal family systems (IFS) therapy incorporates two paradigms: multiplicity of the mind and systems thinking. The former is an elaboration on the understanding that people have internal “parts,” which is present in Freud’s concept of ego, id, and superego; in transactional analysis (Parent, Adult, and Child states); in object relations (the different internal objects); and in cognitive-behavioral therapy (schemata). The latter paradigm applies family therapy theory to these internal parts in people.
General family of origin interactional patterns as well as trauma shape the patterns of interactions among people’s internal parts, similarly to how a child from a dysfunctional family may be put into a certain role (e.g., a scapegoat or a hero). When a person is deeply hurt as a child, a part of them may stay “stuck” in that time period – in IFS these parts are called exiles. Other parts may be there to keep these exiles safe, for example, keep them away from close relationships – these parts are called managers. Yet another group of parts becomes active when the person’s exiles are triggered, for example after a romantic break-up. These parts are firefighters and may express themselves as bingeing on drugs, food, sexuality, or other substances or behaviors. Often managers and firefighters are named by the overarching term “protectors,” since the function of both of these groups of parts is to protect exiles.
A crucial IFS assumption is that besides the different parts everyone also has a core Self, which is calm, confident, caring, and curious. The Self is able, with the guidance from a therapist, to take on an increasingly more leading role in a person’s inner workings and play a role of an inner “parent,” “referee,” or “therapist” for the person. The Self then can help the parts change, by helping exiles heal and helping managers and firefighters leave their extreme roles.
How are Children’s Internal Systems Different from Those of Adults?
According to Johnson and Schwartz (2005), children’s parts are less rigid in their roles and are more accessible to them, which makes for easier therapist’s access, as well, as there are not as many defenses to work through. At the same time, children both are more accepting of their parts and find their parts more difficult to manage than adults. Thus, adults can learn from children how to accept their internal systems, and children can learn from adults how to manage their parts better.
Goals of IFS Family Therapy
The therapist uses the IFS method to promote differentiation of each of the family members by facilitating the depolarization of their polarized parts and thus increasing Self-leadership within them. With the Self playing a more active part within the family members, the interactions among them will take on a more “Self-to-Self” character, rather the more reactive and extreme “part-to-part” character.
General Change-Producing Techniques
A basic rule of IFS therapy is that the therapist needs to know how to be “in Self” (meaning that their Self is the lead), and when they are not, they need to be able to calm and manage the parts that come up within them. This rule is true for IFS family therapy as well.
Some helpful IFS techniques in this regard include introducing and normalizing the IFS language, continuing interpersonal discussions in session only when clients’ Selves are in the lead (if a strong part comes up for a member, then that part gets addressed by the therapist), discussion of the interactions between different members’ parts, asking members to interview their parts, finding the positive intention of members’ parts, helping the family members care for and soothe their extreme parts, and asking the clients to have an interfering part of them “step back” for a while. The authors also discuss some techniques pertinent to families with younger children, such as play (may be used to facilitate children’s modeling of their parts in games and helping them experiment with alternative roles for those parts), drawing (used to visually externalize and work with parts), constructing parts genograms (may facilitate learning about parts that get passed from generation to generation and exploring how a child’s parts relate to one another), and role-switching (to increase family members’ empathy for one another).
The importance of the therapist’s staying “in Self” is illustrated by a case study. The therapist in the case study pays attention not only to parts of the family she is treating, but also to the parts of herself that get triggered by the family dynamics. For example, at the beginning of the treatment she notices feeling some pressure to “do something to help,” in terms of changing the child’s behavior, due to the possibility of his suspension from school. The therapist knows that this feeling comes largely from a part of hers that desires to succeed as a therapist and that wants to “shake up” the boy. She is aware that in the process of working with the family, she will need to keep mindful of this part of herself.
Article 2. “Internal Family Systems Therapy for Children in Family Therapy”
Wark, Thomas, and Peterson (2001) discuss how IFS therapy can be used in developmentally appropriate ways with children and their parents in family therapy.
Appropriateness of IFS for Children
Due to the limitations in symbolic language ability of children under the age of six, IFS is generally appropriate for children who are six and older; however, because every child’s development is unique, a child’s developmental stage, gender, socioeconomic status, and culture (instead of merely the child’s age) should be primary factors the therapist considers while assessing a child’s development.
The Sequence of Treatment
Generally, IFS therapy with children and their parents goes through a number of steps in the following sequence. Depending on each individual case, the sequence may be changed, and certain steps may need to be repeated.
The first step is informed by the understanding of the relative lack of autonomy of children and of the high level of dependence of their internal world on their parents and involves the therapist meeting alone with the child’s caregivers. The authors maintain that for optimal effectiveness of IFS therapy for the child, the parents should be actively and continuously involved in the therapeutic process. During the initial meeting with the parents, the therapist spends time educating them about the IFS model and the importance of their behavior for the child, in order to facilitate a more empathic attitude on the part of the caregivers towards their child.
As the second typical step, the therapist holds several sessions with the child as the primary focus, leading the child towards greater awareness of his or her inner world through education, playful interactions, and stories. The therapist makes sure that the child knows the appropriate vocabulary to name the common emotions, but waits until step four to introduce the child to the language of IFS.
During the third step, the therapist interacts with one or both of the caregivers, engaging their parts, in order for the child to not be the only one revealing internal parts, and so that the therapist and the parents model for the child the ways internal parts are discussed. The authors advise therapists to maintain a degree of playfulness, so that the child does not feel intimidated by these discussions. Also, the therapists should be able to stay attuned to the caregivers and recognize if and when they start to feel overwhelmed by the discussion and schedule a private session with them, if there is a need for it.
During the fourth step, the therapist guides the child in an exploration of his or her internal parts using some of the techniques described below, validates those parts’ experiences, and later elicits such validation from parents, as well.
As the final step, depending on how the therapy has been going, the therapist may facilitate involvement of the parents’ and the child’s Selves during their interactions. During such facilitation, the therapist sees the child’s emotional safety as a primary goal and conducts private sessions with the parents when necessary.
Some Relevant Techniques
- General playful orientation of therapy;
- Metaphors about parts and the Self. The parts may be seen as colors on a rainbow, and the sun may be representative of the Self. When the sun is up, one can see all the colors of the rainbow, and each of the colors is equally important for the rainbow to be complete;
- Literature and poetry may help the child see some parts of them mirrored in characters;
- Drawing and modeling of parts; the child will usually show the therapist which medium they prefer to use.
Authors’ Words of Caution
Although IFS is effective in helping children and their families with a wide variety of emotional and behavioral difficulties, the authors make some suggestions as to the limitations of the modality’s applicability to children. As mentioned above, due to cognitive limitations, it is not recommended that IFS be used with children under six years of age. Also, the therapist using IFS with children should both have training in IFS and have a good understanding of child development. Finally, in cases of abuse the therapist needs to proceed with extreme caution, so that the child is not overwhelmed with powerful negative emotions.
Article 3. “Self in Relationship: An Introduction to IFS Couple Therapy”
Herbine-Blank (2013) provides a comprehensive review of the common problematic relational patterns seen in IFS couples therapy and of some of the techniques and approaches to tackle those patterns.
The basic goal of IFS couples therapy is to help partners reach higher levels of differentiation, which is understood (closely with Bowen’s conceptualization of it) as “being in a relationship with another while maintaining connection with and regulating one’s own internal experience.” IFS also maintains that the level of differentiation between the members of a couple is reflective of the partners’ levels of differentiation from their internal parts. In other words, the couple’s interpersonal dynamics mimic the dynamics within the “internal families” of its members. From this perspective, to reach differentiation between themselves, the partners need to help their internal parts to differentiate (in IFS terms, “unblend”) from the Self, so that each of them can stay connected to whatever parts come up for them, but not let the part “take over” completely.
The first step in helping couples differentiate is to ask each of the partners to make a “U-turn” by shifting their focus away from the other person and towards themselves, spend time becoming aware of their internal parts and “unblending from them,” and then “re-turn” to their partner in a different, more present and less reactive state of mind (in IFS terms, with their Self in the lead).
The next step is to help the couple learn to communicate well, which includes speaking for parts (instead of from parts) and listening from Self. The former skill means being aware that a certain part is active and voicing it as a part, not as the truth of the situation; and the second one involves accessing Self energy and listening to the other person with curiosity and compassion. Often, at first when the couple starts experimenting with such communication, the protectors in one or both of the partners may feel triggered, as such interactions involve a high degree of emotional vulnerability. At such times, encouragement from the therapist to take such a “leap of faith” is very important. From a neurobiological perspective, the more the partners practice such communication, the more the newly generated response patterns will solidify in their neuronal pathways.
A continuous focus in IFS couples therapy is on the self-regulation of the therapist, which includes the recognition that the therapist herself has exiled parts experiencing pain, as well as protectors, both of which may become triggered by the parts of the members of the couple. For therapy to be effective, it is crucial that the therapist be able to unblend from her own parts and access curious, caring, and confident Self-energy. From this perspective, the practice of IFS therapy is a gift to the therapist herself, because it provides an opportunity for her to keep discovering parts of herself and practicing working with those parts.
Article 4. “Creating Self-to-Self Intimacy: Internal Family Systems Therapy with Couples”
Schwartz and Blow (2010) give another review of IFS therapy as applicable to working with couples.
The authors observe that a lot of couples entering therapy are dominated by strong protectors guarding young, vulnerable parts which the partners are hiding from one another. Although many therapies take the approach of teaching the partners skills to take better care of one another, such as active listening, expressing compassion, and looking for compromises, IFS therapy proposes that it is hard to maintain lasting intimacy until the members of the couple do not learn to become the primary caretakers for their own exiles. Often during the initial infatuation phase of the relationship, exiles of the partners will find relief in the other partner as a surrogate caretaker. However, such a pattern of relating is not sustainable, as in the long term it is not in either partner’s power to release the pain of the other person’s exiles (in IFS, such pain is understood as the “burdens” that the exiles carry). To start taking care of their own exiles, clients need to approach them with “Self-energy,” which is characterized by the eight Cs: confidence, compassion, curiosity, clarity, calm, creativity, courage, and connectedness. The therapist facilitates such internal communication on the part of the clients.
Schwartz and Blow discuss several main goals of IFS therapy with couples and the respective therapeutic strategies to achieve those goals. To create an atmosphere of safety and connectedness in therapy, the therapist strives to interact with the couple “in Self” and asks the couple for a permission to be a “parts detector,” who can intervene whenever a strong attacking protector takes over one or both of the partners. To help each of the partners care for their own vulnerable exiles, the therapist helps both members of the couple make a “U-turn” (discussed above) and build relationships with the extreme protectors in them that influence the disruptive relational patterns. To release the obstacles to intimacy (“unburden” the partners’ exiles), the therapist, when she feels the clients are ready, helps them get to know and heal their exiles through the IFS process. The IFS process includes communicating with one’s parts compassionately, while being “in Self,” under the Self-led facilitation of the therapist. This work can be done with each of the partners individually or in the presence of the other partner. To increase the couple’s sense of intimate connection to one another, the therapist increasingly encourages them to speak for their exiles and protectors, instead of blending with these parts and speaking from them; the therapist also remains in his role as a “parts detector” throughout the therapeutic process.
The authors also discuss the importance or “anticipating trouble” in therapy. In particular, after a new level of connectedness has been reached between the partners in a therapy session (a “breakthrough”), it is important for the therapist to inform the clients that often such breakthroughs are triggering for people and are followed by a high degree of protectors’ activity. For example, often partners will reach a new degree of closeness, but then get scared and take distance from each other for some time. The authors suggest that this is a natural process towards more sustained closeness and needs to be respected.
Finally, the article maintains a continuous focus on the importance of the therapist being able to access her own Self energy, which requires that she has worked with her parts enough for them to relax and let her Self take the driving seat.
References
Herbine-Blank, T. (2013). Self in relationship: An introduction to IFS couple therapy. In Sweezy, M., & Ziskind, E. L. (Eds.), Internal family systems therapy: New dimensions (pp. 55- 71). New York: Routledge.
Johnson, L. M., & Schwartz, R. C. (2005). Internal family systems work with children and families. In C. Bailey (Ed.), Children in therapy: Using the family as a resource (pp. 73-111). New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
Schwartz, R. C., & Blow, A. J. (2010). Creating self-to-self intimacy: Internal family systems therapy with couples. In A. S. Gurman (Ed.), Clinical casebook of couple therapy (pp. 375-398). New York, NY US: Guilford Press.
Wark, L., Thomas, M., & Peterson, S. (2001). Internal Family Systems Therapy for Children in Family Therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 27(2), 189-200.
Internal Family Systems Therapy Overview
Internal family systems (IFS) therapy incorporates two paradigms: multiplicity of the mind and systems thinking. The former is an elaboration on the understanding that people have internal “parts,” which is present in Freud’s concept of ego, id, and superego; in transactional analysis (Parent, Adult, and Child states); in object relations (the different internal objects); and in cognitive-behavioral therapy (schemata). The latter paradigm applies family therapy theory to these internal parts in people.
General family of origin interactional patterns as well as trauma shape the patterns of interactions among people’s internal parts, similarly to how a child from a dysfunctional family may be put into a certain role (e.g., a scapegoat or a hero). When a person is deeply hurt as a child, a part of them may stay “stuck” in that time period – in IFS these parts are called exiles. Other parts may be there to keep these exiles safe, for example, keep them away from close relationships – these parts are called managers. Yet another group of parts becomes active when the person’s exiles are triggered, for example after a romantic break-up. These parts are firefighters and may express themselves as bingeing on drugs, food, sexuality, or other substances or behaviors. Often managers and firefighters are named by the overarching term “protectors,” since the function of both of these groups of parts is to protect exiles.
A crucial IFS assumption is that besides the different parts everyone also has a core Self, which is calm, confident, caring, and curious. The Self is able, with the guidance from a therapist, to take on an increasingly more leading role in a person’s inner workings and play a role of an inner “parent,” “referee,” or “therapist” for the person. The Self then can help the parts change, by helping exiles heal and helping managers and firefighters leave their extreme roles.
How are Children’s Internal Systems Different from Those of Adults?
According to Johnson and Schwartz (2005), children’s parts are less rigid in their roles and are more accessible to them, which makes for easier therapist’s access, as well, as there are not as many defenses to work through. At the same time, children both are more accepting of their parts and find their parts more difficult to manage than adults. Thus, adults can learn from children how to accept their internal systems, and children can learn from adults how to manage their parts better.
Goals of IFS Family Therapy
The therapist uses the IFS method to promote differentiation of each of the family members by facilitating the depolarization of their polarized parts and thus increasing Self-leadership within them. With the Self playing a more active part within the family members, the interactions among them will take on a more “Self-to-Self” character, rather the more reactive and extreme “part-to-part” character.
General Change-Producing Techniques
A basic rule of IFS therapy is that the therapist needs to know how to be “in Self” (meaning that their Self is the lead), and when they are not, they need to be able to calm and manage the parts that come up within them. This rule is true for IFS family therapy as well.
Some helpful IFS techniques in this regard include introducing and normalizing the IFS language, continuing interpersonal discussions in session only when clients’ Selves are in the lead (if a strong part comes up for a member, then that part gets addressed by the therapist), discussion of the interactions between different members’ parts, asking members to interview their parts, finding the positive intention of members’ parts, helping the family members care for and soothe their extreme parts, and asking the clients to have an interfering part of them “step back” for a while. The authors also discuss some techniques pertinent to families with younger children, such as play (may be used to facilitate children’s modeling of their parts in games and helping them experiment with alternative roles for those parts), drawing (used to visually externalize and work with parts), constructing parts genograms (may facilitate learning about parts that get passed from generation to generation and exploring how a child’s parts relate to one another), and role-switching (to increase family members’ empathy for one another).
The importance of the therapist’s staying “in Self” is illustrated by a case study. The therapist in the case study pays attention not only to parts of the family she is treating, but also to the parts of herself that get triggered by the family dynamics. For example, at the beginning of the treatment she notices feeling some pressure to “do something to help,” in terms of changing the child’s behavior, due to the possibility of his suspension from school. The therapist knows that this feeling comes largely from a part of hers that desires to succeed as a therapist and that wants to “shake up” the boy. She is aware that in the process of working with the family, she will need to keep mindful of this part of herself.
Article 2. “Internal Family Systems Therapy for Children in Family Therapy”
Wark, Thomas, and Peterson (2001) discuss how IFS therapy can be used in developmentally appropriate ways with children and their parents in family therapy.
Appropriateness of IFS for Children
Due to the limitations in symbolic language ability of children under the age of six, IFS is generally appropriate for children who are six and older; however, because every child’s development is unique, a child’s developmental stage, gender, socioeconomic status, and culture (instead of merely the child’s age) should be primary factors the therapist considers while assessing a child’s development.
The Sequence of Treatment
Generally, IFS therapy with children and their parents goes through a number of steps in the following sequence. Depending on each individual case, the sequence may be changed, and certain steps may need to be repeated.
The first step is informed by the understanding of the relative lack of autonomy of children and of the high level of dependence of their internal world on their parents and involves the therapist meeting alone with the child’s caregivers. The authors maintain that for optimal effectiveness of IFS therapy for the child, the parents should be actively and continuously involved in the therapeutic process. During the initial meeting with the parents, the therapist spends time educating them about the IFS model and the importance of their behavior for the child, in order to facilitate a more empathic attitude on the part of the caregivers towards their child.
As the second typical step, the therapist holds several sessions with the child as the primary focus, leading the child towards greater awareness of his or her inner world through education, playful interactions, and stories. The therapist makes sure that the child knows the appropriate vocabulary to name the common emotions, but waits until step four to introduce the child to the language of IFS.
During the third step, the therapist interacts with one or both of the caregivers, engaging their parts, in order for the child to not be the only one revealing internal parts, and so that the therapist and the parents model for the child the ways internal parts are discussed. The authors advise therapists to maintain a degree of playfulness, so that the child does not feel intimidated by these discussions. Also, the therapists should be able to stay attuned to the caregivers and recognize if and when they start to feel overwhelmed by the discussion and schedule a private session with them, if there is a need for it.
During the fourth step, the therapist guides the child in an exploration of his or her internal parts using some of the techniques described below, validates those parts’ experiences, and later elicits such validation from parents, as well.
As the final step, depending on how the therapy has been going, the therapist may facilitate involvement of the parents’ and the child’s Selves during their interactions. During such facilitation, the therapist sees the child’s emotional safety as a primary goal and conducts private sessions with the parents when necessary.
Some Relevant Techniques
- General playful orientation of therapy;
- Metaphors about parts and the Self. The parts may be seen as colors on a rainbow, and the sun may be representative of the Self. When the sun is up, one can see all the colors of the rainbow, and each of the colors is equally important for the rainbow to be complete;
- Literature and poetry may help the child see some parts of them mirrored in characters;
- Drawing and modeling of parts; the child will usually show the therapist which medium they prefer to use.
Authors’ Words of Caution
Although IFS is effective in helping children and their families with a wide variety of emotional and behavioral difficulties, the authors make some suggestions as to the limitations of the modality’s applicability to children. As mentioned above, due to cognitive limitations, it is not recommended that IFS be used with children under six years of age. Also, the therapist using IFS with children should both have training in IFS and have a good understanding of child development. Finally, in cases of abuse the therapist needs to proceed with extreme caution, so that the child is not overwhelmed with powerful negative emotions.
Article 3. “Self in Relationship: An Introduction to IFS Couple Therapy”
Herbine-Blank (2013) provides a comprehensive review of the common problematic relational patterns seen in IFS couples therapy and of some of the techniques and approaches to tackle those patterns.
The basic goal of IFS couples therapy is to help partners reach higher levels of differentiation, which is understood (closely with Bowen’s conceptualization of it) as “being in a relationship with another while maintaining connection with and regulating one’s own internal experience.” IFS also maintains that the level of differentiation between the members of a couple is reflective of the partners’ levels of differentiation from their internal parts. In other words, the couple’s interpersonal dynamics mimic the dynamics within the “internal families” of its members. From this perspective, to reach differentiation between themselves, the partners need to help their internal parts to differentiate (in IFS terms, “unblend”) from the Self, so that each of them can stay connected to whatever parts come up for them, but not let the part “take over” completely.
The first step in helping couples differentiate is to ask each of the partners to make a “U-turn” by shifting their focus away from the other person and towards themselves, spend time becoming aware of their internal parts and “unblending from them,” and then “re-turn” to their partner in a different, more present and less reactive state of mind (in IFS terms, with their Self in the lead).
The next step is to help the couple learn to communicate well, which includes speaking for parts (instead of from parts) and listening from Self. The former skill means being aware that a certain part is active and voicing it as a part, not as the truth of the situation; and the second one involves accessing Self energy and listening to the other person with curiosity and compassion. Often, at first when the couple starts experimenting with such communication, the protectors in one or both of the partners may feel triggered, as such interactions involve a high degree of emotional vulnerability. At such times, encouragement from the therapist to take such a “leap of faith” is very important. From a neurobiological perspective, the more the partners practice such communication, the more the newly generated response patterns will solidify in their neuronal pathways.
A continuous focus in IFS couples therapy is on the self-regulation of the therapist, which includes the recognition that the therapist herself has exiled parts experiencing pain, as well as protectors, both of which may become triggered by the parts of the members of the couple. For therapy to be effective, it is crucial that the therapist be able to unblend from her own parts and access curious, caring, and confident Self-energy. From this perspective, the practice of IFS therapy is a gift to the therapist herself, because it provides an opportunity for her to keep discovering parts of herself and practicing working with those parts.
Article 4. “Creating Self-to-Self Intimacy: Internal Family Systems Therapy with Couples”
Schwartz and Blow (2010) give another review of IFS therapy as applicable to working with couples.
The authors observe that a lot of couples entering therapy are dominated by strong protectors guarding young, vulnerable parts which the partners are hiding from one another. Although many therapies take the approach of teaching the partners skills to take better care of one another, such as active listening, expressing compassion, and looking for compromises, IFS therapy proposes that it is hard to maintain lasting intimacy until the members of the couple do not learn to become the primary caretakers for their own exiles. Often during the initial infatuation phase of the relationship, exiles of the partners will find relief in the other partner as a surrogate caretaker. However, such a pattern of relating is not sustainable, as in the long term it is not in either partner’s power to release the pain of the other person’s exiles (in IFS, such pain is understood as the “burdens” that the exiles carry). To start taking care of their own exiles, clients need to approach them with “Self-energy,” which is characterized by the eight Cs: confidence, compassion, curiosity, clarity, calm, creativity, courage, and connectedness. The therapist facilitates such internal communication on the part of the clients.
Schwartz and Blow discuss several main goals of IFS therapy with couples and the respective therapeutic strategies to achieve those goals. To create an atmosphere of safety and connectedness in therapy, the therapist strives to interact with the couple “in Self” and asks the couple for a permission to be a “parts detector,” who can intervene whenever a strong attacking protector takes over one or both of the partners. To help each of the partners care for their own vulnerable exiles, the therapist helps both members of the couple make a “U-turn” (discussed above) and build relationships with the extreme protectors in them that influence the disruptive relational patterns. To release the obstacles to intimacy (“unburden” the partners’ exiles), the therapist, when she feels the clients are ready, helps them get to know and heal their exiles through the IFS process. The IFS process includes communicating with one’s parts compassionately, while being “in Self,” under the Self-led facilitation of the therapist. This work can be done with each of the partners individually or in the presence of the other partner. To increase the couple’s sense of intimate connection to one another, the therapist increasingly encourages them to speak for their exiles and protectors, instead of blending with these parts and speaking from them; the therapist also remains in his role as a “parts detector” throughout the therapeutic process.
The authors also discuss the importance or “anticipating trouble” in therapy. In particular, after a new level of connectedness has been reached between the partners in a therapy session (a “breakthrough”), it is important for the therapist to inform the clients that often such breakthroughs are triggering for people and are followed by a high degree of protectors’ activity. For example, often partners will reach a new degree of closeness, but then get scared and take distance from each other for some time. The authors suggest that this is a natural process towards more sustained closeness and needs to be respected.
Finally, the article maintains a continuous focus on the importance of the therapist being able to access her own Self energy, which requires that she has worked with her parts enough for them to relax and let her Self take the driving seat.
References
Herbine-Blank, T. (2013). Self in relationship: An introduction to IFS couple therapy. In Sweezy, M., & Ziskind, E. L. (Eds.), Internal family systems therapy: New dimensions (pp. 55- 71). New York: Routledge.
Johnson, L. M., & Schwartz, R. C. (2005). Internal family systems work with children and families. In C. Bailey (Ed.), Children in therapy: Using the family as a resource (pp. 73-111). New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
Schwartz, R. C., & Blow, A. J. (2010). Creating self-to-self intimacy: Internal family systems therapy with couples. In A. S. Gurman (Ed.), Clinical casebook of couple therapy (pp. 375-398). New York, NY US: Guilford Press.
Wark, L., Thomas, M., & Peterson, S. (2001). Internal Family Systems Therapy for Children in Family Therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 27(2), 189-200.