ReRooted - IFS's Dick Schwartz: legacy burdens, racism, privilege, activism and healing the planet

Richard Schwartz, PhD, is the founding developer of Internal Family Systems (IFS), a therapeutic model that synthesizes systems thinking and the multiplicity of the mind, suggesting alternative ways of understanding psychic functioning and healing. Dr. Schwartz co-authored, with Michael Nichols, Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the United States. He joins Francesca for a timely chat on how the Internal Family Systems Model is evolving to include cultural and collective trauma and legacy burdens. To keep up with Dr. Schwartz ongoing work, visit www.ifs-institute.com Legacy Burden We take in, often unconsciously, what are called legacy burdens, which come into us through events that happened to our ancestors, ethnic groups, or culture. The parts of us that have been demonized in our culture carry these burdens in terms of extreme beliefs and emotions which came from traumas, but the burdens are not to be confused with the parts or the true nature of these parts. That’s a big mistake that many systems have made, to assume the burden is actually the part. So, the rage isn’t a bundle of rage. It’s a part that tried to stand up to your abuser, and as a result, took on the abuser’s energy to protect you, and now carries all this rage, but that’s not the true nature of the part at all. “How you relate to these parts will play out in terms of how you relate to people who resemble those parts. So, if you can have compassion for your rage, then when somebody is raging, you’re going to see that pain that is driving the person, and have compassion for them. If you can be with your exiles, your vulnerable hurting parts, in a loving way, then when somebody is in their exiles you can be there with them too.” For a deep dive into identity, oppression, and restorative justice, open yourself to Ep. 28 of ReRooted Implicit Racism & Unburdening (9:55) Dr. Schwartz discusses how the anti-racism movement has done a lot of good in terms of raising people’s consciousness and bringing is