IFS therapy in Madrid: when part of you wants to move forward and another hits the brakes

A map of your inner world, without pathologising any part

IFS (Internal Family Systems), developed by Richard Schwartz, starts from an idea that changes your relationship with yourself: we all have an inner system of "parts", subpersonalities with their own emotions, beliefs and functions. It's not a poetic metaphor: it's a model with growing evidence.

There are parts that manage and control (the demanding one, the planner, the critic), parts that fight fires when pain threatens to overflow (the one that disconnects, that eats, that works non-stop), and exiled parts carrying the original pain. And beneath them all, the Self: who you are when the parts relax. Curiosity, calm, compassion, clarity.

In IFS, no part is the enemy. They're all trying to help you, sometimes with methods that no longer work. If you want to go deeper, I explain it calmly in what IFS is.

When IFS makes sense

• Relentless self-criticism and self-demand: that merciless inner voice no achievement silences, and understanding what it's trying to protect.
• Inner conflict: when one part of you wants to move forward and another slams the brakes, and the battle exhausts you. Blocked decisions, chronic ambivalence.
• Patterns that repeat: pleasing, controlling, disconnecting, self-sabotage. Behaviours that "aren't you" but keep coming back.
• The protective layers of complex trauma: IFS reaches painful material with exquisite respect for your defences: it doesn't force doors, it knocks.
• Your relationship with yourself: moving from inner war to something like collaboration. For many people, that alone changes everything.

IFS within an integrative process

IFS is one of the pillars of how I work, with certified training in the model (IFS Certificate). And precisely because I know it deeply, I don't apply it as a stand-alone method:

IFS + EMDR: we first listen to the parts protecting the painful material; when they give permission, EMDR processes what the exiles carry. This sequence makes processing safer and deeper.

IFS + body: parts don't just speak: they're felt. The tightness in the chest, the knot in the stomach. Somatic work gives a voice to the parts that don't have words.

IFS + your external system: your inner family was formed in your real one. The systemic lens connects your parts with the history where they were born.

What an IFS session looks like

We start with a part that's active: perhaps the critical voice, an anxiety, an impulse. Instead of trying to change or silence it, I invite you to approach it with curiosity: what is it trying to protect? How long has it been doing this job? What does it fear would happen if it stopped?

What usually happens is surprising: when a part feels heard instead of fought, it relaxes. And as it relaxes, it reveals what it protects, and space appears for the Self, your centre of calm and clarity, to take the wheel.

It's work that's deeply respectful of your pace. Nothing is forced: protective parts are honoured as allies, not obstacles. And it works just as well online as in person.