From “Telling Stories in the Dark: Finding healing and hope in sharing our sadness, grief, trauma, and pain” by Jeffrey Munroe
“There are several different schools of thought that have named the different parts or subpersonalities or alter egos that we have. One approach that’s been helpful to me is the Internal Family Systems model, which was developed by Richard Schwartz. Schwartz was trained in family systems, and applied the understanding of what happens in external systems to internal systems.
“There’s no question our personalities are shaped by our external family system. The External Family Systems model has identified various roles that are played in families. The internal Family Systems model does the same thing; it also identifies roles, but these roles exist internally, inside of us. Schwartz says we have a True Self, a capital S Self. In the church we call our True Self the image Dei, and say we’re made in the image of God. Schwartz would say there are parts, or subpersonalities, that surround the True Self. These parts hold stories, memories, and pain.
“For the well-adjusted person, the True Self is large and expansive. Someone like that most likely grew up in a home where they were supported, held, celebrated, and loved. Or, if they didn’t grow up in a home like that, they’ve done a lot of inner work. In biblical terms, we’d say they demonstrated the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Similarly, Schwartz has identified eight self-leadership characteristics that all start with the letter “C”: courage, calmness, creativity, compassion, confidence, clarity, curiosity, connectedness. These are markers of the True Self. I believe the Apostle Paul in Galatians and Richard Schwartz, in the Internal Family Systems model, are speaking of the same things. When a well-adjusted person experiences traumas in life, as everyone does, they are able to process those traumas.”