Internal Family Systems Therapy for Addictions: Trauma-Informed, Compassion-Based Interventions for Substance Use, Eating, Gambling and More

So often, addiction is viewed as a disease or an uncontrollable habit that signals a lack of willpower. In Internal Family Systems Therapy for Addictions, IFS educator Cece Sykes, IFS author Martha Sweezy, and IFS founder, Richard Schwartz, suggest a paradigm shift. Rather than viewing addiction as a pathology, they propose that it reflects the behavior of polarized, protective parts struggling to manage underlying emotional pain.

In this manual, therapists will learn to access their core, compassionate Self and collaborate with clients in befriending protective parts who engage in addictive processes; healing the vulnerable, wounded parts they protect; and restoring balance to their system.

Included inside:

• Experiential exercises to help clients (and therapists) get to know their own parts
• Guidelines for conducting assessments in an engaging, collaborative way
• Clear strategies for negotiating internal conflict and navigating polarizations between opposing parts
• Case examples annotated with step-by-step explanations
• Downloadable worksheets, handouts, and meditations

Cece Sykes, LCSW, is a consultant and senior trainer with the Internal Family Systems Institute, where she specializes in trauma and addiction and educates therapists around the world on how to apply the IFS therapy model to addictive processes. Additionally, Sykes is now exploring how psychotherapy affects the therapist’s life. She lectures, consults, and leads workshops on these and related topics, and also maintains a private practice in Chicago. She has co-authored a number of articles on treating the impact of sexual trauma in families and authored the chapter “An IFS Lens on Addiction: Compassion for Extreme Parts” in the 2017 book, Innovations and Elaborations in Internal Family Systems Therapy.

Martha Sweezy, PhD, is a part-time assistant professor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a research and training consultant at the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at the Cambridge Health Alliance, and a psychotherapist at a private practice in Northampton, Massachusetts. She has published articles on IFS in peer reviewed journals, co-edited two books on various applications of IFS, and co-authored three treatment manuals on IFS (on trauma, couple therapy, and now addictions), as well as the second edition of Internal Family Systems Therapy with Richard Schwartz. Her next book, which explores shame and guilt in the context of psychic multiplicity, will be published by Guilford Press in 2023.

Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is the creator of Internal Family Systems, a highly effective, evidence-based therapeutic model that depathologizes the multipart personality. His IFS Institute offers training for professionals and the general public. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and he has published five books, including No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model. Dick lives with his wife, Jeanne, near Chicago, close to his three daughters and his growing number of grandchildren.