Dr. Frank Anderson joins us on Adventures Through The Mind to explore the Internal Family Systems model of therapy and its perspective on the nature of mind, trauma, “triggers”, and the symptoms of mental illness. We also talk about the transpersonal context of the self, choosing to grow up in the face of our own traumas, IFS’ application to psychedelic therapies, and how to use IFS to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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************** Episode Breakdown

What is Internal family systems therapy?
Systems thinking and the multiplicity of the mind
Everybody is born with 'self-energy' and we don't need to build it or cultivate it
We all have multiple personalities, IFS calls them 'parts'
The problems of parts taking on extreme roles
The different types of parts and their roles
- the two types of protective parts: mangers and firefighters
- the wounded parts: exiles
All our parts have positive intention - even if those intentions have negative results
How IFS is different than conventional therapy insofar as how it addresses 'problematic behavior': e.g. Cutting, addiction and suicide
How important therapist authenticity of affect is during the co-regulation process between client and therapist
The difference between managing symptoms and healing wounds
What an IFS session looks like and the vital importance of 'getting the permission of the protective parts' before doing any healing work
The client does the healing, the therapist is an adjunct
Healing happened through the internal relationship between the self and the parts
Self-energy: what is it, what does it feel like, what is its role and how do we connect with it
How trauma impacts our relationship between the self and our parts
In the IFS context of trauma, what does it mean to be an adult
Growing up and healing trauma is a choice we need to need to make, even when our capacity to choose is different in different contexts (e.g. Systemic disenfranchisement)
The metaphysics of choosing our trauma before being born as a spiritual process
We all have the capacity to heal our trauma
How does IFS understand psychedelic therapy, generally and specifically: MDMA, psilocybin, and ketamine
There is such a difference between low dose and high dose ketamine insofar as doing therapy
Low-dose ketamine psychotherapy using IFS protocol, compared to MDMA protocol
The exciting potentials of how different psychedelic therapies can be optimized through IFS
The impotence of differing between recreational, therapeutic, spiritual and harmful use
An IFS interpretation of the imperial ACE psilocybin model
Should therapists experience psychedelics before providing psychedelic therapy
How does understanding IFS as a paradigm for living help us with or without trauma
How to use self-facilitated IFS processes to deal with the trauma/pain/fear of the COVID-19 pandemic
Unblending from our past so we can show up to what's actually happening right now

**************

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