Hugo Bonham, who recently completed my IFS telecourse for therapists, writes:

I am wondering if there is a category of parts missing from IFS?
 
You mentioned the
exiles – in pain
managers – trying to prevent activation of exiles
fire fighters – trying to distract us from activated parts
 
but some parts seem to be the result of other parts:
 
for example in panic attacks I have often found that there are several parts
the panic in the belly
the fear of the panic in the chest causing palpitations
the negative thoughts in the head like “I am about to die” or “something is seriously wrong”
and in the space in front of the belly something that the panic was originally concerned about.
When that one in front is healed then the panicky part no longer panics.
So the panic seems to be the result of something else and other parts are in turn caused by it,
or at least reacting to it.
 
Another example:
I have met cases of an internalised part modeled on the childs perception of one parent or carer
which was there to punish them for being bad
then there is the bad part cowering somewhere.
 
Here also the punishing part could be squeezed into the category of being the result of the bad part
because when the bad part is healed then the punisher is out of a job.
 
I am not entirely satisfed with this way of categorising the punishing part,
but for want of another idea that is the only category I can thing of.
 
How does IFS categorise these different kind of parts I have mentioned?
 
The punishing part also calls into question the IFS insistence that all parts have a good intention.
It may have been that the carer had a good intention in being punishing,
but when I have talked to such parts they don’t know why they are punishing, that is simply their job.
Do you have any comment on that?

My answer:

Your are right in one sense that there is a lot more to say about parts than just those three categories. Especially, there are a variety of ways that parts can be related to each other in the internal system. Not just protection and polarization, but other relationships as well. I think that is what you are getting at.

In your first example, it sounds to me like there are at least two parts: the panic in the belly and the fear of the panic. The negative thoughts might be separate parts, or they might just be some of the thoughts of those two parts. You would have to go inside and explore to see. The space in front of the belly doesn’t sound like a part. It sounds more like what the belly part is afraid of. Though I may be wrong. I would have to know more about that experience to know for sure.

In any case, one part can be frightened of another part. In the case, the fear in the chest is frightened of the panic in the belly. Then the question comes up: is that fear in the chest an exile or protector? That depends on whether it is protecting against anything. For example, it might be trying to protect you from the fear in the belly in some way. Then it would be a protector. If not, if it is just afraid, then it would be an exile.

In your second example, the punisher is probably not just an introject. The IFS understanding is that all parts have a motivation in the present. Even if this part is modeled after a parent, it is punishing the bad part now for some reason that it thinks will help or protect. So it is a protector. It isn’t necessarily protecting the bad part, but parts like this always seem to have a protective motivation. If they say it is just their job, I tend to ask what they are afraid would happen if they didn’t do this job, and I am more likely to get an answer that shows the positive intent.

Occasionally, there is a master part that has the positive intent. You might ask what other part gave them that job. That might show you the master part that is running the show.

The relationship of the punisher to the bad part is that of harm or triggering. It harms the bad part or triggers the bad part’s feeling of being bad that it already carried. That is another common relationship between parts.

The punishing part would be considered an Inner Critic part, and Bonnie and I have done a lot of exploring of these types of parts, and they all seem to have a positive intent, even if their effect is very destructive. See http://www.personal-growth-programs.com/inner-critic-section and the seven reports for details on this.