[[IFS Parts]] whose role is to help you "feel good and avoid pain". ### Formation ![[Self-Therapy A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, a New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy#^0e5r0k]] ### Types From [[Self-Therapy A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, a New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy#^97jgza|Self-Therapy]], Jay highlights six main types of protectors we may have - Judgmental parts - When negative responses emerge from the part we are trying to heal because of how it may have affected our lives in the past - Avoiders - Intellectualizers - Impatient parts - Inadequate parts - Skeptics - Skeptical of the IFS process as a whole - We can acknowledge it's concerns, but with thoughtful timing, otherwise it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy where it sabotages any attempts to make progressn ### Pains (For deeper reference see this part of highlights) - Pain is too much for us to manage - *we know our own limits and we are in self so we can approach it from a whole place* - Feeling like there is no point to healing something that is either long-lasting or severe - *have faith that IFS is a proven strategy* - Doesn't want to be eliminated - *Can change roles* - Exile will be harmed - *check in with yourself to see if theres any signs you're displaying that might give that vibe. otherwise, just warm up to the protector to show them that isn't your intent.* - Doesn't trust your competence - *acknowledge the quest for training is necessary for competence, and that you will only take on what you can* - Secret will be revealed - *Being an adult means that we can better handle these sudden discoveries, and can protect ourselves from other people's reactions* - Dangerous protector will be triggered (firefighters) - *Just have to diffuse by working with it* - Re-experiencing the wound - *the exile wasn't actually fully resolved so it had to just resort to protection, but now that you're in self you can help it* - ![[Self-Therapy A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, a New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy#^8epa5o]] ## Practices ### Getting to know a protector ![[Self-Therapy A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, a New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy#^pv37vy]] ### Help a protector relax ![[Self-Therapy A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, a New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy#^f7ta99]]