Advanced Workshop: Clinical Applications of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy with Frank Anderson MD

CPD

Handouts

Speaker

Frank Anderson, MD Related seminars and products

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Frank Anderson, MD, completed his residency and was a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is both a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He specializes in the treatment of trauma and dissociation and is passionate about teaching brain-based psychotherapy and integrating current neuroscience knowledge with the IFS model of therapy.

Dr. Anderson is a lead trainer at the IFS Institute with Richard Schwartz and maintains a long affiliation with, and trains for, Bessel van der Kolk’s Trauma Center. He serves as an advisor to the International Association of Trauma Professionals (IATP) and was the former chair and director of the Foundation for Self-Leadership.

Dr. Anderson has lectured extensively on the Neurobiology of PTSD and Dissociation and wrote the chapter “Who’s Taking What” Connecting Neuroscience, Psychopharmacology and Internal Family Systems for Trauma in Internal Family Systems Therapy – New Dimensions. He co-authored a chapter on What IFS Brings to Trauma Treatment in Innovations and Elaborations in Internal Family Systems Therapy, and recently co-authored Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual.

His most recent book, entitled Transcending Trauma: Healing Complex PTSD with Internal Family Systems was released on May 19, 2021.

His memoir, To Be Loved, is set to be released on May 7, 2024.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Frank Anderson maintains a private practice. He is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Self Leadership and has employment relationships with The Trauma Center and The Center for Self Leadership. Dr. Anderson receives royalties as a published author. He receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Frank Anderson is a member of the New England Society Studying Trauma and Dissociation and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.

Objectives

1. Evaluate the steps of working with clients' “protective parts” to improve treatment outcomes as proposed by the IFS model.
2. Differentiate between empathy and compassion as it relates to the IFS approach and improving the therapeutic process.
3. Evaluate the evidence that supports meditation as beneficial to clinical outcomes when used in the IFS process of therapy.
4. Assess and diagnose wounds connected to grief and loss; and describe two effective IFS interventions.
5. Recommend how to address the “protector” fears as they arise for the client during the therapy session.
6. Apply IFS methods to help trauma clients manage their overwhelming feelings.
7. Articulate how to explain to clients the neuroscience of hyperarousal in their “extreme parts.”
8. Demonstrate how the role of criticism and neglect from caregivers causes shame cycles in your clients and how parts-work breaks the cycle.
9. Apply the “triggering agreement” intervention when working with clients around resolving parenting issues that arise for them.
10. Demonstrate what “tracking the sequence” means as it applies to couples’ treatment.
11. Analyze the necessity–and create modifications–when using IFS in an inpatient setting.
12. Within the internal system, determine the parts of self that are associated with substance use disorders.
13. Assess countertransference, including recognition of potential activation of therapist’s own reactive parts.

Outline

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

• Comprehensive, compassionate, non-pathologizing treatment approach
• Paradigm-shifting perspective on “psychopathology”
• Easily integrated into other therapeutic modalities
• Teach clients to access inner wisdom and self-compassion to heal traumatic wounds

Evolution of the Model

• Development of the IFS model by Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D.
• IFS as an empirically validated treatment: Summary of research support
• Goals of IFS therapy
• Starting an IFS session and the flow of the model

The Neuroscience of IFS

• The mind and the brain
• Neurons-networks and parts
• Meditation and self energy
• Understanding the fear response

IFS STEP-BY-STEP

Step 1: Using Meditative Processes to Identify and Connect with a Target Part

• Differentiate the person from the symptom
• Access a state of compassion and curiosity essential for healing
• Establish a relationship with the target part
• Learn the history and benevolent intention behind the symptom

Step 2: Working with Protective Parts

• Facilitate internal attachment work
• Learn to address the fears/concerns of protective parts
• Establish a trusting relationship with proactive and reactive parts
• Resolve internal conflicts
• Gain permission to proceed with healing

Step 3: Healing the Wound

• Connect with the wounded part
• Witness the pain rather than relive it
• Retrieve the wounded part
• Release/unburden thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations
• Life without the wound, the post-healing process

Therapist Parts

• Countertransference redefined
• Identifying parts that get in the way
• The Science of extreme reactions in therapists and clients

CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF IFS

Trauma and Attachment

• Roadblocks to healing trauma
• Neurobiology of PTSD and Dissociation
• Dealing with the extreme symptoms and staying in Self
• Healing attachment wounds: What IFS offers

Depression and Anxiety

• Differentiating feelings from symptoms
• Address the biology and process the wound
• Protection or genetics

Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder

• Addressing psychotic parts
• Differentiating psychosis from trauma dysregulation
• Treating biological issues while addressing emotional pain

Substances and Addictions

• Befriending addictive parts
• Healing wounds or stopping use?
• Addressing the biology and the behaviour after healing

Eating Disorders

• When food “abstinence” is not an option
• Multiple eating parts
• Self-led eating

Shame and Grief

• The shamer and the shamed
• Critical and neglect shame cycles
• Loss, letting go, and healing

IFS With Specific Client Populations

• Children and adolescents
• Parenting
• Couples
• Groups and inpatient settings
• LGBTQ
• Spirituality and culture

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Therapists
• Addiction Counselors
• Nurses
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Psychiatrists
• Other Professionals Who Work within the Mental Health Fields

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