Self-Therapy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness Using IFS, A Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy, 3rd Edition

An excellent book for those just learning IFS therapy. Geared to both professionals and those who want to try some self- analysis. Includes step by step instructions, case examples and a great appendix. I liked that the writing style was clear and neither too academic nor too informal.

This book helps me understand the nature of IFS therapy better than other descriptions I have seen. I highly recommend this book to those wanting to truly get to the root of our dysfunctions, especially in the aspects of IFS therapy that help unite the parts... NOT "win the internal war" There is no winner in war. Healing is the victory!

This is a good book if someone wants to start with the basics of IFS- Internal Family Systems. It’s appropriate for therapists, clients & people who just want to self improve. It’s very reader friendly & I found it to be a good addition to my learning materials.

The best Self Therpay book ever made and the best IFS book ever written. There is no healing CPTSD without IFS, every other modality is a mere coping mechanism, don't be fooled by "therpists" with PHD's who made it their life's goal charge money to help people with the wrong stuff. Nothing will heal you if you have CPTSD except IFS and for many IFS+Somatic Experiencing. Further, the one a week hour you have with your IFS therpist is way too insufficient to heal unless you have another 500 years left. You MUST practice IFS on your own daily and this book is the ultimate guide. Pro Tip: Always do a 20 minute Mindful meditation before beginning your IFS practice- you will jettison your ability to get into and remain in Self. Highly suggest Somatic Experiencing in tandem. Happy Healing.

I am a NYC psychologist with a lot of training, and I have had a lot therapy as a client as well. This book helped me have a fairly major breakthrough and frankly, I am shocked. I'm not even finished with the book yet, but I am already recommending it as highly as I can because I believe this parts work can help everyone. I will also add that my boyfriend and I are seeing an IFS therapist, in fact she is the one who recommended this book... but I think many will be able to benefit just from reading the book and doing the exercises. I have found it life-changing and I am hoping to learn it well enough to do it with my clients. Thank you for this amazing book and thank you to Richard Schwartz and IFS!

Some folks say to read No Bad Parts first as an introduction. I feel like it did an okay job at explaining difficult concepts. Actually a manual for doing IFS at home alone or with a partner, but will help you get more out of your IFS sessions with a therapist as well. Filled with prompts and examples from sessions that illustrate how the activity might go. I feel like I never had a lot of benefit healing my CPTSD, codependency, and insecure attachment until I started IFS and reading ACA books (which take a similar approach as IFS). You will truly integrate your experiences, reduce inner conflict, and improve a sense of grounded self-worth. Highly recommend for anyone whose behavior feels sometimes at odds with their identity and values. Book is a little redundant and probably could have been edited better, but that's my main gripe.

None of the IFS books by the original creator, Dick Schwartz, are difficult to read. He writes in a simple, everyday language. But, IMO, what Jay really brings to the table is his simplification of IFS into, essentially, a recipe. I'll bet lots of people buy this book because they're thinking "I need therapy but I don't want to see a therapist so I want to DIY." The title Self Therapy is a double entendre, in that the core of IFS is access to ones "Self " but also he demonstrates that lots of progress can be made by one self or with peers. I've taken a handful of the zoom classes offered by his & Bonnie Weiss' teaching organization (now at Self Capacities dot com) and thus have re-purchased this book a few times to have a fresh copy to retake coursework from. I highly recommend this book and their classes, particularly to nonprofessionals as the official IFS path which inc. certification is *prohibitively* expensive and has like a 10 year waitlist (possibly with a lottery system) (or, at least, that's how it was ≈ 2020). readers will leave this book with a recipe on how to do a simplified version of IFS that is enough to be really quite effective. The simplified version, going based on memory, pretty much just eliminates the differentiation between managers and firefighters. They're both called "protectors. " for me, doing the work, I find it makes no particular difference to differentiate the two so I don't anymore.

This is far better than IFS founder's book. (I've tried 3 IFS books, this is by far the most effective) Why? It's laid out strategically to be effective. Each chapter is laid out in bit sizes, drawings to help grasp the info & each chapter concludes with highlights & summaries. Smart. It also has Appendix - Help Sheets - Definitions. Smart. All of these smart features make for an Effective step by step guide to learning IFS.

Extremely long book of 400 pages that feels like it is written by a 14 year old teenager into fantasy, magic, and Walt Disney! There is nothing scientific about this. At one point, it suggests that you must imagine shedding your childhood pain to one of the four elements: Water, Earth, Wind or Fire. Let me quote him, so you see how childish this is on page 99: ¨IFS has discovered that it is helpful to release a burden to one of the basic elements in nature, Water, earth, wind.... This signifies that the burden won't come back because it has been carried away by something elemental". Does this sound serious? IFS has discovered? Where? In a scientific laboratory?? The book relies on examples that are very childish, that only someone driven by fantasy would believe. It is hard to believe that after talking to a part of you that acts out, such as getting angry, that suddenly an image of you being 6 years old appears and then magically an image of you being a baby in the cradle appears and you see all this so clearly. This step just sounds too fantastic to believe. Most likely the author and his clients create these fantasy "child" images. I'm sure 40 years ago you were not walking as a baby with a selfie stick seeing yourself. So these people are creating these images with their fantasy and not recovering anything. Science would probably say that those memories are most likely lost because they were pre-verbal.

I've tried any learned so much about therapy methods, trauma, etc. This is by far the best approach and it just resonates deeply. Honestly, especially CBT is a joke compared to IFS. For survivors of complex PTSD I highly recommend to additionally use the 13 steps for flashback management of Pete Walker when your do the exercises in this book. This angel of a man has them freely accessable on his website.

I am a counsellor and to date have bought 5 copies of this book as keep giving it away to people I am helping ! I'm keeping this one. Great for self help or if you wanted to start a journey into being a IFS therapist

I was skeptical when I started reading but I’m glad I finished reading. I feel I’m more grounded and authentic. I read a few other trauma related books but this is one of the best - logically and practical

Aside from being easily understandable for the layperson, it motivates one to try the therapy for oneself. Since therapy is presumably of the highest importance to anyone, this book accordingly is an excellent IFS guide to it.