No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model

“No Bad Parts” is a fascinating and inspiring book. Dick Schwartz shows how healing and liberating it can be to enter our inner world, and to lovingly care for the pain, the anguishes, and inner struggles that haunt us. He presents a captivating, groundbreaking, and deeply humane therapy approach. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is not just a model of psychotherapy — it becomes a way of life. In IFS, we become aware of our parts: those conflicting inner voices, feelings and beliefs that can overwhelm and confuse us. We also become aware of our Self: the healing force we all carry inside. These conversations, these compassionate inner exchanges, between our parts and our Self sustain and strengthen us throughout life’s challenges and changes. His concept of the Self is revolutionary because he does not see it as broken, but as present in all of us. The Self becomes concealed by alienated parts, who are burdened with feelings and beliefs of traumatic experiences as they were fighting for our survival, most often during our childhood. We learn about why parts are frozen in time, becoming stuck in feelings and beliefs formed by those traumatic experiences. We learn how we can help parts unburden and become supportive partners in our inner family. IFS is a healing journey that reaches beyond one’s own soul and life. It touches the lives of others. It has always moved me how honestly and openly Dick Schwartz shares about himself, his own struggles, the history of his suffering parts, the development of IFS, and his experiences with IFS in his life. He does this again with his new book “No Bad Parts.” He is not someone who wants to be on a pedestal. He wants us to get to know what is going on in our inner world. He supports us lovingly in gaining appreciation for our parts and our Self — and in living Self-led lives. He empowers us to create harmony within and around us. As his client some years ago, I had unforgettable experiences on this journey. I remember coming into a session after I had sent the final version of my essay “Facing a Wall of Silence” to the editors. As I listened inside, I did not notice any parts. Instead I had a strong feeling of being alive. He asked me to imagine walking up a path and leaving my parts behind. When I did this, the feeling of being alive only intensified. He invited me to ask this feeling what it had to tell me, and the first thing I heard was: “This is what you are here for.” The same feeling returned strongly and for some time, years later, when I wrote “Alice Miller: War and Betrayal Trauma.” Although I have a part who is very skeptical of spirituality, it acknowledges these experiences as real, valid and convincing. In retrospect, it seems that — without being aware of it — I was on a journey and had a calling, which IFS helped me fulfill. It is a profound relief not to be demeaned by some arbitrary diagnosis, but to understand how our history impacted our parts — and forced our Self into being locked away. It is deeply gratifying to come to value our Self and to live with Self-leadership. The experience that my Self can be there, reliably and lovingly, with compassion, for my parts when they come up, and struggle, and need to share, has been life-changing. It has brought hope and joy and love and courage into my life. Dick Schwartz shares his insights and experiences bravely and honestly. The wealth of those experiences and insights is comforting and invigorating. And comforting and loving is the IFS therapy approach, which is a blessing as we can actively heal our traumatized parts, harmonize our inner system, come to cherish our parts’ true essence, as well as our Self — and find our place in the world. I am grateful for my IFS journey, for Dick’s open heart and generosity when confronted with my vehement protectors, and for the encouragement that his book “No Bad Parts” provides in continuing my journey with IFS.

Wow, what a book! I learned a little about Internal Family Systems from other authors & spiritual directors&became especially interested when I heard spiritual directors in my program talking about how to use it with directees. This is a powerful paradigm that I’m finding helpful in my own soul work, & I’m looking forward to learning more so I can use it with directees. The book is accessible for folks like me who aren’t therapists or psychologists. Schwartz explains how he began to apply his knowledge of family systems to what he identifies as different parts we have within us that relate to 1 another much like our external families do. We have parts that, often at a young age, were traumatized & become frozen in that time period. Protector parts developed, sending vulnerable parts into exile, & may become triggered by anything that threatens the safety of our exiles. When we become aware of, listen to, & work with our protectors, we can gain their trust so they will stand down &allow us to find & heal our exiles. Then the protector parts are freed up to serve healthier functions. Schwartz includes transcripts to model how this work is done with his clients. He provides exercises for readers to try on their own & gives recommendations regarding at what point to seek help from an IFS-trained therapist. This model fits in perfectly with Enneagram work & the idea of nonjudgmental self-observation, as well as self-compassion. It feels a bit odd at first, but it makes a lot of sense & has been really helpful for me. One of my favorite things about this model is Schwartz’s assertion that we all inherently have what we need to heal (though we may need a therapist to guide us), & once the Self emerges (or what we would call “True Self” or “Essence” in Enneagram work), the Self seems to know what to do to respond compassionately to the parts & exiles in a way that is healing. I highly recommend this book & am excited to continue practicing & learning about IFS! This would be a great one to read and study in community.

This is tough. The book was life changing for me, but I was already pretty far down the path of experience with various therapies (CBT, psychodynamic etc.). I’m pretty sure that this isn’t a first or even a good early book choice for a beginner. Something more mainstream like CBT would likely be easier to understand and utilize and offer “faster” results. With a little more experience a motivated individual who is willing to “do the work” might reap significant benefit from this book. Internal family systems is much more oriented to getting at, understanding, and healing past traumas and painful situations then a more “superficial” system such as CBT that is more oriented to managing feeling and thoughts as they arrive rather then delving into their origins. At first the book does seem to be a bit of mumbo jumbo and it is hard to believe that the concept and exercises can possibly work. This is somewhat complicated by the author’s tendency to bring his views on societies ills and social injustices into the mix on occasion. To gain benefit from this book the reader would, I believe, need to be highly motivated and to have the ability to set aside doubts and just accept that the concepts are sound. The reader will also need to be strong enough to experience what could be extremely painful emotions as they access past traumas and painful situations. This book definitely isn’t for the feint of heart and may be overkill for someone with minor issues. I suspect some will cast the book aside as rubbish or won’t be ready, motivated enough, or strong enough yet to go down the Internal Family System path. That’s fine, because as I noted I don’t think this book is for some or maybe most. In the right individual though it may be life changing.

Taking time to be still enough to listen to the voices in your head can help you identify what Richard calls "parts." I've found that there is immediate benefit to identifying your parts and separating them from your "Self," which is your wise and compassionate leader of your parts. It's the real "you." The overall message I get is that with IFS, you reconcile with your inner wounded child and you heal by helping them realize that everything is okay now that you're an adult. Connecting with your inner wounded child can be a major point of healing and, as his experience suggests, can produce profound results. However, I find that simply telling the inner wounded child that everything is okay because you're an adult now is not sufficient, and at worst is plain ignorant. On the topic of children. He makes an assertion on page 100 that "Young children can't fully access Self.... Children don't have the brain power to fully protect themselves in the world, regardless of how much parts might allow them to be Self-led. And this is partly why your parts lost trust in your Self's leadership when you were hurt as a young child - you couldn't protect them at the time, and they think they have to take over." This statement reveals a lot about the philosophy of IFS. It makes it sound like we will all become a collection of parts, no matter what, and it's only a matter of time before we do. This is his psychotherapy background talking. There is always childhood trauma. I wholly disagree that children are not capable of being Self-led. On the contrary, everything they do is from Self. They only develop parts after being "educated" by adults. They become hurt when an adult tells them to sit down, shut up, follow the rules. They become hurt when an adult does some unthinkable harm to them. Children don't have Protectors because they don't need them. They develop Protectors to deal with the moral judgements, evaluations, diagnoses, and harm they were subject to as children. Some people have left reviews about the political commentary in the book. I guess this is because he dares to utter the name of the current president. But the book is political for more reasons than this. He makes a counterpoint to the argument that meditation can't save you from a burning building by saying something along the lines of "well, of course not, but if you ever act out of Protector energy as opposed to Self energy, you will make the problems around you worse." This is nonsense. Women are not safe. Racial minorities are not safe. LGBTQ+ people are not safe. Financially struggling families are not safe. No amount of inner child therapy is going to change that. Not on a systemic level. And certainly not on an individual level. He quotes David Dellinger on page 140 who says something along the lines of "you can't change society in isolation and you can't change individuals in isolation if you want to heal the world." Schwartz suggests that IFS is an entire solution because if everyone practiced IFS, the world would be a better place. This reveals Dellinger's and the author's lack of knowledge of history. Real political change in America or any other country didn't come from IFS. Ever. I wouldn't entrust either of them to lead a political movement or organization if I needed it to exercise real power and produce real results. And don't get me started on his anti-intellectual "wave" spiritual stuff. He is ignorant to the inherent violence in languages of Western cultures. He is ignorant to the real, brutal effects of systemic violence and delusional as to the response necessary to stop it. He is ignorant to science itself (all of his evidence is anecdotal). Throw syncretism on top of that. Read Umberto Eco's 14 common features of fascism. All of that said, the majority of the book has helpful practices. If personifying your inner critics, cowards, children, etc. helps you identify your needs, then by all means, do so. I leave this comment to say that if we want the world to be a better place, we can start within (with IFS, for example), but real change requires real power, and that extends beyond self-help.

I've been undertaking a "Year of Growth" since I hit age 42 and realized I still have a ways to go to really grow up. Out of many, many things I've tried, this book made the biggest difference in my life in the shortest time. It's not just a "therapy modality." It's a way of viewing human nature that is fundamentally kind and hopeful. And it's a way of actually healing trauma breathtakingly quickly, not talking about it endlessly for months and years, and not just trying to keep a lid on it with top-down approaches. You can make friends with even the most challenging parts of yourself. It's literally all good. Some old programs just need a little love and a little updating. IFS provides a genius "hack" for doing exactly that. You don't need willpower to change your life when you're actually healed. Life naturally and easily gets better. I barely recognize myself from three months ago when I first read this book. (I just listened to it a second time, and got a lot more out of it after doing many IFS sessions on myself for several weeks.) I could go on and on, but I'll just say this: If you're human, read this book. I understand so much more about everything since reading it, and life has gotten much better. It's not an immediate cure-all, and it requires tough inner work. There are other methods and modalities that have shed other kinds of light, and I'm grateful for all of it. But this helped me take a huge psychological and spiritual step forward. And it doesn't require you to believe anything. When you access your Self, you know. And it feels like a homecoming to a strange new world. With books like this showing new-old ways to find our best natures, it feels like a wonderful time to be alive. And I've seen some of the worst of what's happening these days. I don't come by my cautious and increasingly joyful optimism lightly or easily. Even if we destroy ourselves, it's fascinating and wondrous having a chance to find ourselves and each other in whatever time we have. P.S. This book works particularly well as an audiobook so you can do the exercises without having to refer to the text.

Reviewed by Jennifer Silverness, MSEd, LPCC, LADC – Founder, Pioneer Recovery Center Richard Schwartz’s No Bad Parts offers one of the most compassionate frameworks I’ve encountered for understanding ourselves. Through the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, Schwartz invites us to see every part of our inner world—not just the “good” parts—as worthy of understanding, respect, and care. In my work at Pioneer Recovery Center, I’ve seen how this perspective can be life-changing for people carrying shame or self-criticism. By reframing so-called “problem” parts as protective responses to pain, IFS opens the door to self-compassion and healing that feels safe and nonjudgmental. Schwartz writes in a way that is accessible to both therapists and those seeking personal growth. The exercises are simple but powerful, making the IFS approach something you can begin to apply immediately. If you’ve ever felt at war with yourself, this book offers a path toward inner peace.

As a licensed social worker, "No Bad Parts" by Richard Schwartz offers a profound and accessible approach to understanding the complexities of the human psyche. Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, which emphasizes that no part of us is inherently “bad,” provides a compassionate framework for both self-healing and client work. The book is filled with practical tools and exercises that are easy to apply, whether you’re working on your own growth or guiding others through their challenges. Schwartz’s clear, non-judgmental writing style makes it easy to grasp complex concepts and integrate them into everyday practice. It’s particularly valuable for helping clients recognize and engage with their different emotional parts without shame or self-criticism. This book is a must-read for anyone in the therapeutic field, offering deep insights into fostering acceptance, self-compassion, and emotional well-being.

This book turns mental health therapy upside down (and it’s high time to do this!) - taking the fields of psychology and psychotherapy from disease-diagnosis-and-drugs to unburdening, transforming and enlightening. A must read for anyone interested in a path to mental health that’s both effective and medication-free. This is the most encouraging work I’ve read on the subject of mental health - wish I’d found it sooner.

La teoria dell'Internal Family Systems trascende tutti i limiti della teoria psicologica classica integrando mente e corpo attraverso pratiche di scoperta e guarigione del trauma. Attraverso emozioni cardine come Curiosità e Compassione Dick Schwartz ci guida nella scoperta delle nostre parti e ci aiuta a dialogare con esse. Un libro che cambia la vita.

Well written. Very informative. Shame that the IFS course is not accessible for mature people with life experience and as coach. So unless you're a qualified counsellor/psychotherapist it's of no real use. Only useful if you're qualified as above to be accepted on to foundation course and then the other levels. OK if you want yo work on self as long as you havd thd determination to apply methods.

I've watched a podcast on YouTube with dr Richard Shulze and I loved so much his experienced way of explaining how we function and his seeing us as parts. This book is really life-changing and would definitely recommend to everyone because it's applicable for everything. And also once we understand ourselves we can understand others better. Knowing it's not their self talking but their parts for instance if they are unwell and upset. So we try to understand then, not to fight.

Excellente méthode de travail sur soi. Un outil puissant et efficace que l'on peut utiliser même sans thérapeute.

Schwartz先生による待ちに待った最新刊です。 内容的にみても、IFSの入門書として最適な本だと思います。