Hi u/Significant_Diet_474 these are questions many people have, and they're important.

It really depends. Of course we'd need to know what you mean by "benefit." Does that mean generally "feeling better"? Working with an entrenched issue? Dealing with something relatively minor? Having foundational changes?

In my experience, most people feel a benefit after one session.

IFS can be very intellectually satisfying as it often provides us a window into why we've been doing certain things (read: why parts have done what they've done). Hence the immediate relief.

However, after the novelty wears off, there's more variation in how much benefits different clients get. After all, the satisfaction of insight doesn't necessarily correlate to true healing.

One of the problems with IFS is we can get distracted by those big insights - and even by the genuinely moving connections with parts - and not realize that on the deep level we're not changing if IFS is our only tool. The best way I can explain this is that IFS is like doing a renovation in your house (the house = you). It can be really satisfying to renovate part of a room, different rooms, etcetera. It can change our quality of life. But if the foundation of the house is not sound, there's a major problem.

I've found that something additional is needed: a framework through which to identify the foundational issues in a person. Because otherwise, we might have IFS session after IFS session (every single one meaningful and tear-wrenching and big-feeling) and be working with endless numbers of parts, but missing the main stuff.

So in those cases, IMO no amount of pure IFS sessions (when there's parts talk the entire time) might be enough if the person were looking for real foundational change.

I work with people who are seeking that Big Prize: becoming who they really are. My process combines IFS and Jungian analysis and takes 1-2 years.

In terms of knowing if it's right for you, I'd say trying a session would be the truest way to tell.

How's this land with you?