What is parts work?

According to Richard Schwartz, the creator of internal family systems (IFS), all of us have an identity made up of multiple facets. These facets, referred to as parts, have distinct personalities, and each part resides among a system that lies within us.

IFS espouses that no parts are bad and all exist to be helpful. In other words, all components that make up our whole selves serve a purpose, none of which are judged negatively.

What about the part of me that uses substances? What about the part of me that lashes out at the people I love?

Even the parts of us we feel are “bad,” like the parts that may shop compulsively or demand perfection, are parts that serve a purpose. These parts attempt to be helpful to our whole system, even if they “help” in a way that creates short-term relief and causes long-term harm.

With parts work, we acknowledge and accept all parts of ourselves, we are curious and compassionate about the role each plays, and find ways for them to exist within ourselves in a truly helpful (adaptive) manner.

The Parts Explained

IFS breaks down our parts into 1 of 4 categories: the exiles, the managers, the firefighters, and the core self. Schwartz emphasizes that these categories are roles our parts are forced to play based on our individual life experiences.

To assist with conceptualizing each part, we’ll use the example of someone with perfectionistic tendencies. While oversimplified, this example will demonstrate the function of each part and the service it provides to the internal system as a whole. 

Exiles

These are our “undesirable” parts. They are the parts of us that we feel ashamed of. We do not like that they are there, so we try to push them down and pretend they are not there.

Exiles are connected to trauma and shame. They hold our unresolved memories and experiences. Unresolved experiences often create extreme beliefs about ourselves. Pretending these parts do not exist might feel effective in the short term. But in the long term, we convince ourselves that we should feel ashamed of these parts. A deeply held belief is created that we should feel ashamed - of memories and experiences connected to the parts that exiled them.

Using our example of an individual struggling with perfectionism, they might hold the belief that they are not good enough, which may stem from experiences in childhood and adolescence. Maybe they were told or shown this by being criticized even when they tried their best. Their internal system responds by saying, “If I do everything I can to be good enough, then this shameful truth will not be true anymore”. So they become a perfectionist and do everything they can. The exile is the belief that “I’m not good enough”.

Exiles are also referred to as our child parts because of their ties to past experiences often from important developmental periods. These parts have not moved out of the stressor or trauma that occurred in the past, so they show up as scared, helpless, and in need.

Managers

These are the parts of us tasked with hiding our exiles during our day to day existence. They keep the world safe so that we can hold our exiles at bay.

Managers' core function is to do everything possible to prevent exiles from being triggered. Schwartz specifies that our managers are often inner critics and intellectualizers that keep us away from scary feelings and beliefs about ourselves. He also likens managers to parentified children who have taken on the role of caring for other parts.

In our example, perfectionistic behavior (the part) would fall into this category. If the managers construct, predict and create everything just right, the outside world can be controlled so that the dreaded “I’m not good enough” exile cannot take over.

We can see why these parts think what they’re doing keeps us safe. 

Firefighters

Our firefighters are another form of protection that keeps distressing feelings and exiles pushed away. Unlike managers, however, who monitor and act within us daily, firefighters are the emergency workers.

Firefighters serve the purpose of jumping into action when the exiles have been triggered. These parts can be desperate and impulsive in their actions, even though they mean well. They are acting in desperation to hide away the scared and vulnerable exiles.

If we think of exiles like scared children needing help, our firefighters are the ones locking them in a room, leaving them to be ignored.

The exhausted protector, desperate for a break, may feel grateful to the firefighter, but the fire rages on. The root of the problem remains unaddressed; the children alone in the room are still fending for themselves.

In our example, the firefighter might come out when our imaginary perfectionist gets a bad grade on a test. The bad grade puts the exile "I’m not good enough" front and center.

Firefighters offer temporary relief. They jump into action and keep the flames at a distance, perhaps by using substances to numb the exile’s strong feelings, or engaging in self-harm to punish the exile back into submission. 

Core self

The core self is who we are if we remove the trauma and negative self-beliefs that were put in place to protect ourselves from scary things. When beginning parts work, we often don’t have access to who we are deep down. Nurturing the individual parts and allowing them to stand down enables us to see who we are at our core.

What does parts work look like? 

Parts work is a possibility when you're ready to encounter the conflict between parts within yourself. The idea that no parts are bad parts highlights that every facet of our being is oriented toward survival, and many of these parts are misinformed.

Some parts might use protective skills that were needed in the past. In our example of the perfectionist, a manager might have served an important purpose in childhood. It may have protected this person from ridicule from loved ones and helped them feel accepted and valued. In the present day, though, they might not need to protection in this way. This part can learn a new way to benefit the system.

A parts work therapist will begin to help individuals examine their existing parts in a gentle, curious, and non-judgmental way. The goal is to understand all parts and what the parts truly need, as opposed to what they think the system needs. Protective parts are scared to let the core self exist vulnerably in a scary world, and this creates cognitive dissonance because individuals aren't acting in line with who they actually are. 

Because no parts are bad, a therapist will not ask you to get rid of any of your parts. Instead, before you can start to understand your exiles and access your core self, a parts work therapist will help you contact your protective parts with compassion. They will guide you through helping your protectors stand down temporarily, with your permission. Then you can begin to examine and understand your exiles.

While examining your exiles, a therapist will help you learn why your exiles adopted their particular beliefs. Because these parts are often young, formed in childhood, and have not yet moved past the age in which they were formed, you might find that they require patience and nurturing.

Next, the goal is to bring these exiles out from the past and into the present. The objective is to let your exiles know that they no longer carry the burdens they used to, and they are no longer existing in the past. This allows your protectors to not have to work so hard to keep the exiles away. It takes time, patience, and consistency. In the same way you can’t convince a neglected animal that humans are safe in one day, you cannot convince your exiles to trust you without time and intentionality. 

As your protectors learn that they don’t need to hide away your exiles, and your exiles make their way out of the past and into the present, the goal becomes connecting with the core self. Without protectors constantly guarding your core self, you can begin living more congruently with who you are.

One Way Toward Wellbeing

It is worth repeating that parts work takes time and consistency. Different therapists utilize parts work in different capacities and to different extents. It is one way to move toward accepting all of you while moving away from shame. If you are interested in learning more about parts work, check out No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz.