Richard Schwartz: Dealing with our inner conflicts

Richard Schwartz describes how we can understand ourselves better if we think of our inner conflicts as arguments between parts of ourselves. He outlines the kind of mindful interaction through which we can assume effective leadership of these conflicting parts: We learn to compassionately listen to their deep needs underneath the bluster. There is a short demo of the process. This conversation is available as a printable PDF transcript. Richard Schwartz co-authored, with Michael Nichols, Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the U.S. Dr. Schwartz was Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research and later at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. He developed Internal Family SystemsSM in response to clients’ descriptions of various parts within themselves. IFS is a nonpathologizing, hopeful framework within which to practice psychotherapy. In 2000, Dr. Schwartz founded the Center for Self Leadership in Oak Park, Illinois. CSL offers three levels of training in IFS, workshops for professionals and for the general public, an annual national conference, publications, and DVDs of Dr. Schwartz’s work through its web site at www.selfleadership.org.   IFS trainings and workshops are also being held in several European countries. Dr. Schwartz has published five books and over fifty articles. See also conversation with Richard Schwartz about Internal Family Systems. Published January 2017