Summary of Susan McConnell's Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 We rely far more on what is being said than how it is being said. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors’ lives depended on this ability, and today we rely on it solely before spoken language evolved.
#2 Somatic IFS therapists focus on the body in order to better understand and communicate with their clients. They develop the practices of Somatic Awareness, Conscious Breathing, Radical Resonance, Mindful Movement, and Attuned Touch and bring them to every step of the IFS model.
#3 The first step is for the therapist to assess whether the client’s external situation allows them to engage in a process of inner work. The client’s safety often comes down to basic physical needs of their body. Do they have food, shelter, and adequate medical care. Are they safe from physical harm.
#4 The therapist role can bring up our vulnerable parts. We find the fears in our body rather than trying to relax. We bring a quick moment of compassion and reassurance to the fearful part.

Sujets

• Counseling
• Psychotherapy

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 08 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669351627
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Susan McConnell's Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

We rely far more on what is being said than how it is being said. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors’ lives depended on this ability, and today we rely on it solely before spoken language evolved.

#2

Somatic IFS therapists focus on the body in order to better understand and communicate with their clients. They develop the practices of Somatic Awareness, Conscious Breathing, Radical Resonance, Mindful Movement, and Attuned Touch and bring them to every step of the IFS model.

#3

The first step is for the therapist to assess whether the client’s external situation allows them to engage in a process of inner work. The client’s safety often comes down to basic physical needs of their body. Do they have food, shelter, and adequate medical care. Are they safe from physical harm.

#4

The therapist role can bring up our vulnerable parts. We find the fears in our body rather than trying to relax. We bring a quick moment of compassion and reassurance to the fearful part.

#5

When a client is physically safe, the therapist should then attend to their safety in the therapy office. This may involve changing the furniture in the room, air temperature, lighting, and any objects that may interfere with a sense of being safely held.

#6

The therapist and client get agreement on how to work together and what to work on. The therapist listens to the client’s verbal as well as nonverbal communication. The therapist is listening for incongruences between what the client is saying and how they are saying it.

#7

The IFS therapist is trained to ask, Where do you find this part in or around your body. The Somatic IFS therapist does not ask this question. Instead, the therapist brings awareness to the client’s somatic experience and the therapist’s nonverbal communication to help the client turn their attention inward to connect with the part.

#8

The process of differentiating the part from Self involves establishing a relationship with the part. To help the client keep their attention focused on the part, we may ask questions about the part’s location, the qualities of the sensations connected with the part, and how those sensations change over time.

#9

The fifth step in the process of differentiating the part from the Self is to befriend the part. We ask how the part feels toward the client, and whether it is aware of the client’s Self being present with it. We bring in some of the Somatic IFS practices to anchor this relationship in a physical reality.

#10

In IFS, we consider the same categories of parts as in IFS: protectors, which include managers and firefighters, and exiles, because most often they have been exiled for their own or the system’s protection.

#11

The body is always there, and protectors use the body’s energies to keep the system safe. They use whatever is at hand to get their jobs done, and they are strategic. They can block, push, run, tackle, counter, and pass.

#12

The heart is a battlefield of parts. The energy that is tied up in the efforts of the various parts to protect him is now released and becomes part of Marco’s energy as he moves through his life with more Self energy.

#13

When we are with our clients, our protective parts experience their Embodied Self energy through our relaxed and centered postures, our eye contact, our voice, our breath, and our touch. They will keep us away from the vulnerable parts until the autonomic nervous system has sensed that it is now safe to do so.

#14

When working with exiles, the therapist relies on nonverbal communication to understand their wounds from relational trauma. The therapist works with the most available channel and proceeds with sensitivity and delicacy to integrate the emotions, thoughts, images, and eventually the dissociated body sensations.

#15

When dealing with exiles, it is important to establish a connection with their vulnerable parts so they can begin to feel safe enough to share their story.

#16

The Exile’s story can be seen in the way Wendy holds her baby as she rocks. Her jaw is locked, and she feels like she is holding a baby in her arms, not a toddler.

#17

The process of a physiological retrieval involves bringing awareness to the physical symptoms of trauma. The Embodied Self of the therapist alone, or together with the client’s, can establish a compassionate connection that can help the client’s nervous system shift from a state of dissociative shutdown to a state of secure connection.

#18

The vertical axis from the pelvic floor to the mouth is the foundation for moving out into the world of relationships. It is important to restore this connection, and it can be done by practicing the subtle movement of breathing in while your head tilts back and then returning to the jaw on the exhale.

#19

The five practices of IFS help the parts and the Self perceive it is safe for the Self to return to its true embodied nature, beginning with awareness and acceptance.

#20

Somatic awareness is a quick indicator of my degree of Embodied Self energy and is often the quickest route back to it. I feel expansive, relaxed, and alert when I am in Self energy, and contracted, tense, or cut off when a part is dominant.

#21

When dealing with a client who is experiencing extreme parts, it is important to remain aware of your body sensations and your breathing. The feelings and behaviors of parts can be frightening, revolting, and disgusting to our own parts.

#22

The use of touch in psychotherapy is controversial. However, it can be a powerful addition to the therapist’s toolbox of healing approaches. Touch is direct and immediate. It is a direct transmission of all qualities of Embodied Self energy to the parts inhabiting the body.

#23

The five practices of Somatic IFS are earth, air, fire, and water. They are the foundational tools for exploring the internal system. They help restore an embodied self.

#24

The body systems are another way to understand the complexity of the body. They are also an important tool for clinicians to appreciate the systemic nature of the bodymind.

#25

The four elements are used in Somatic IFS, as they are the basis of many ancient healing practices. They are also the foundation of many modern therapeutic approaches, and their accumulated healing wisdom that has contributed to our survival as a species still informs many of our effective therapeutic and restorative methods.

#26

The foundation of all the other practices is somatic awareness, which is the awareness of your body. It connects you to the earth and the sky, and it helps you grounded and supported. It also connects you to the other elements, and it helps you understand how they affect you.

#27

All the elements of Somatic IFS are interrelated. The therapist connects with the heart, the compassionate warmth of the physical contact resonates with the tissues, and the four elements of earth, air, water, and fire help connect us with the infinite Field of Self energy.

#28

The five practices of Somatic IFS are awareness, breathing, skeletal, fascial, and nervous systems. We connect with the earth through our pelvic sitz bones and our feet, and bring awareness to our lungs, circulatory system, and muscles of respiration.

#29

The practice of Radical Resonance involves the central nervous system, including the autonomic nervous system and the structures of the limbic brain. It also considers the heart as an emitter of an electromagnetic field more powerful than that of the brain.

#30