Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D (Internal Family Systems): IFS & Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy

Richard C. Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems, believes that psychedelic-assisted therapy can help to harmonize the mind's discrete subpersonalities.

Richard C. Schwartz, is the founder of a style of psychotherapy called Internal Family Systems. IFS is based on the idea that the mind is made up of discrete subpersonalities and that healing occurs when they are brought into harmony. Dick is bullish about psychedelics as a way of accessing and understanding these different subpersonalities or “parts” and believes that IFS can be a helpful topography for anyone doing psychedelic-assisted therapy.

On the show we discuss the IFS system and why it’s particularly good for working with trauma. Dick shares his personal experiences with psychedelic medicines and Eamon shares his own spontaneous IFS work during his iboga journey. We talk about how IFS can inform psychedelic-assisted therapy and why a knowledge of parts is important for the therapist. We talk about indigenous wisdom traditions and the spirit guides of the DMT world. As always, we conclude with Dick’s specific advice to the aspiring psychedelic therapist.

It is an honor to speak to such an affable and studied luminary in the field of Psychology and we are excited to bring you other perspectives beyond the psychedelic community moving forward.