IFS (Internal Family Systems) offers a powerful way to work with the psyche by identifying its different parts. There are two main categories of parts

• Protectors

• Exiles

In this article, I am going to focus on protectors.

Protects are, in IFS, parts that a person has developed through life to, as their name says, protect against difficult situations. It is possible to differentiate among protectors based on what they do. IFS uses the terms “Managers” and “Firefighters” to describe the two main types of protectors. Having said that, these names are only useful to understand how protectors work and should not be used in a rigid way.

If you have done some IFS work, you might have realised that the distinction between managers and firefighter is not always clear, and what counts is that we get to know, accept, understand and love our protectors, no matters what we call them.

We all have many protector parts, which help us go through our days without worrying about survival. For example we have protectors that look after the ways we interact with people in public, how we cross the road, and make sure we are not exposed to risks, etc.

What I am going to give you here is an introduction to protectors that does not focus only on the situations in which these protectors are burdened or too rigid and dysfunctional. Let’s not forget that the aim of IFS is, as a matter of fact, harmonising all parts through inner dialogue without forcing any change and without making any part disappear.

It is key to keep in mind that parts always exist for a good reason and have a good purpose. Even the most extreme part that causes pain and suffering has been created with a “good” intention, and IFS wants to honour and respect this.

Healing is the process of remembering the goodness of all our parts, connecting peacefully and deeply with these parts, and finding a new balance in which all parts are respected.

One of the most touching experiences of IFS Psychotherapy is the process of getting to know our protectors. We usually do not know why a protector is there and what it is doing for us, and it is wonderful when we connect with them.

Managers in IFS

Managers are amazing parts of look after our daily functioning. They are concerned with making sure we are ready for what comes next. For this reason their functions are “proactive” in the sense that they prepare for difficulties and ensure our life runs smoothly.

Developing a healthy relationship with protectors is one of the ultimate goals of IFS Therapy. Healthy managers help with many aspects of daily life like

• Food intake

• Sleep patterns

• Carrying out duties (studying, deadlines, chores, etc.)

• Following societal norms

• Taking actions in line with our highest values

Managers are the parts of us that allow us to interact with the world so that we can shape our life in the way that is most in line with our purposes.

From an existential point of view, healthy managers make sure our life is meaningful, joyful, satisfactory and healthy (mentally and physically).

Having worked with many protectors, I have discovered that they hold a lot of wisdom about the person. They know exactly if they are overworked, burdened or if they are protecting some exiles in the system.

I have written more about managers in a separate article (read more here). Clients usually come to therapy because some of their manager parts have become dysfunctional and hold a distorted view of reality. For example, people find themselves dreading constantly certain situations like public speaking, interviews, job applications, etc. and they do all they can to avoid these situations at the detriment of their life.

Other examples of unhealthy managers are situations of wanting to over-control what one does and thinks. Extremely burdened managers might lead to constant policing of certain thoughts and/or feelings. Should this be the case, it is best to contact a trained IFS Therapist to understand how the managers’ behaviour can become more harmonious and less extreme.

Firefighters in IFS

These protectors are more “fiery” than managers. While managers act in preparation of problems and try to avoid difficult situations as much as possible, firefighters come into action once we are in a situation of perceived danger.

Managers do all they can to avoid danger and are active when the danger is not present. Firefighters awaken when we are in danger and the strategies put in place by the managers have not managed to avoid danger.

We are, of course, talking about “perceived” danger. The situations that we live in our everyday lives are not “really” dangerous in the sense of posing an immediate threat to our life, but our firefighters can kick in as soon as there is something that we are bored by, or when we dislike, disagree with, feel threatened or scared by something.

Firefighters are extremely developed parts of ourselves. They function flawlessly and they come to our aid without having to call for them.

For example, during these long months of lockdown, some firefighters take the role of “soothers”. Have you every found yourself switching on a TV or your computer just to immerse yourself in a movie, a series or anything that makes time pass?

Other types of firefighter come up when we are looking for a distraction, of when we feel strong sense of aggression towards someone or something.

Firefighters are “reactive” in nature and offer a quick fix to problems. They make us drop into our body, while managers are more in our head. Firefighters are usually pleasant, but, when dysfunctional, they lead to behaviours that are out of control. For example addictions like drinking, drugs, smoking, sex, porn, food, sweets, etc.

Do you ever have the experience of not knowing what got into you? Remember the last time you behaved in a way that does not feel like your usual self, and you will probably realise that you had a firefighter part that was triggered and had taken over you. You can read more about firefighters here.

Learning to love Ourselves and All our protectors

I am going to conclude this article with a few words on how important it is to get to know, appreciate, respect and love our protectors.

This is not easily done because we are used to judging ourselves harshly for having certain behaviours or for being in certain ways. Too often we are our worst judge and our worst persecutor. IFS Therapy offers a safe and proven method to change our inner world. We have come to the point in which we have forgotten how to be compassionate and understanding of ourselves.

There is a collective belief that we need to judge ourselves harshly, otherwise our behaviour will go out of control and we will be bad people. We are all happy and willing to be compassionate towards others; we like people when they show their vulnerabilities, yet we attack ourselves when we get in touch with our own vulnerabilities.

IFS Therapy offers a way to change the distorted views about ourselves and society that we have learnt without questioning them and, by changing our inner world, we can change the external world too.

One final note…

I hope this article has given you some insight into the IFS method. I personally write these articles and they are freely available on my website. I kindly ask that you reference them by quoting this webpage if you use them for personal, professional or educational purposes.

If there are topics you would like to know more about, please let me know.