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By Unyte Editorial Team Reviewed by Unyte Clinical Team |
For Internal Family Systems (IFS) providers, the clinical goal is clear: to help clients unblend from protective parts so they can access Self-energy, an innate state of calm, curiosity, compassion and clarity. However, for clients with complex trauma, moving too quickly toward unblending while the nervous system remains locked in survival can cause protective parts to feel dismissed or overridden.
According to Dr. Frank Anderson, a world-renowned trauma treatment expert and Harvard-trained psychiatrist and psychotherapist, this “stuck” moment — when a physiological wall is reached — is rarely a failure of the therapist or the client. More often, it’s a matter of timing and neurobiology.
Effective trauma treatment lies not in a single, one-size-fits-all model, but in the thoughtful integration of multiple approaches. As Dr. Anderson shared in our recent webinar, Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Nervous System Regulation, which explored the combined delivery of IFS and listening therapies, “[Integration] actually helps heal trauma appropriately.”
To truly support clients and meet their nervous systems where they are, providers must first bridge the gap between psychological processing and physiological safety.
Increase Access to Self Energy with Internal Family Systems and Listening Therapies
By guiding the nervous system toward regulation, listening therapies can help create the physiological conditions for Self energy within clients to naturally emerge, allowing for greater trust, harmony and healing across the internal system.
The Neurobiology of Survival vs. Safety
A common clinical pitfall is asking clients to engage in deep processing, such as cognitive reframing, emotional witnessing or unblending, before their nervous system is ready for this work. As Dr. Anderson shared, the survival mechanisms of clients with complex trauma may often be calibrated to perceive safety itself as dangerous.
“When somebody’s in survival, safety’s not an option, survival is,” he said in the webinar. When a provider attempts to impose safety or push for emotional openness while a client remains in a survival state, protective systems may intensify, leaving the client feeling misunderstood.
As we’ve learned from Dr. Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, we cannot simply talk our way into feeling safe through top-down, cognitive approaches. Physiological safety must be established first, from the bottom up, through nervous system regulation.
Treating the “Water,” Not Just the Swimmers
Marcella Cox, LMFT, CEDS-C, is a therapist, author and presenter; a Level 3 Certified IFS Therapist; an Approved IFS Clinical Consultant; and a Somatic IFS Assistant Trainer for Susan McConnell, developer of Somatic IFS. In this exploration with Dr. Anderson, now available to watch on-demand, Cox shared a powerful metaphor from clinical psychologist Alexia Rothman, Ph.D., that may help both providers and clients better understand: “The nervous system is the water that parts swim in.”
While clients’ psychological defenses, emotions and parts — the “swimmers” — may live in the mind, they rely on the body and the nervous system to express themselves. If the “water” is turbulent or frozen, traditional therapy often cannot land. To make psychological work possible, we must first treat the water.
Sound as a Passive, Powerful Pathway to Regulation
Listening therapies offer a vital bottom-up tool for providers and clients. Unlike cognitive strategies that require active effort from a system that may already be taxed, listening therapies like the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) use sound as a non-invasive pathway to help regulate the autonomic nervous system passively.
“I recommend these listening therapies to everyone. I don’t think I would show up today without the impact that they’ve had on my own life,” Cox shared, adding that listening therapies also offer high-functioning, exhausted clients with a less demanding intervention. “Just with a little bit of listening, the shifts that can happen [are] remarkable. Really inspiring.”
Dr. Anderson echoed this perspective, emphasizing that “music, sound and certain vibrations really can help bring integration and safety into the system,” helping to address trauma held in the body.
“I don’t think I would be able to do my work — my own trauma work — without them,” Dr. Anderson added. “There is something that movement and sound really [help] integrate. I don’t think the field of psychotherapy pays enough attention to sound … and I love the way Unyte incorporates this other dimension of integration and safety into the work of trauma healing.”
Moving From Effort to Emergence
By prioritizing physiological regulation through listening therapies, providers offer clients a passive, non-invasive way to experience and cultivate safety. Once the nervous system becomes regulated, the capacity for insight, compassion and connection naturally follows.
It’s also important to note that providers should trust the wisdom of a client’s nervous system and protective parts to guide the pacing of interventions. This thoughtful, integrative approach is key to helping clients move beyond “stuck” points and into sustainable, embodied healing.
Get an Excerpt of the Internal Family Systems + Listening Therapies Combined Delivery Guidelines
Download an excerpt of the guidelines to explore how integrating listening therapies, such as the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP), alongside Internal Family Systems (IFS) can support nervous system regulation in service of deeper, more accessible parts work.
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