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A comment on Ask HN: Have you invested in self-development and done inner work?.

Re:Ask HN: Have you invested in self-development and done in... by narrator on Wednesday April 06, 2022 @12:11PM (#30933882)
The most useful psychological technique I've found is Internal family systems (IFS). If you do it with a therapist, it can be very powerful, and mind bending, like a psychedelic trip. The way it helps productivity is when I can't motivate myself to do various tasks I use IFS to explore what's going on in my brain that fuels that procrastination.

It takes me to memories and dusty corners of my brain that I rarely visit that form the foundations of my identity. The only bad part about it is one really needs a therapist to guide oneself when one goes deep and visits what IFS calls "exiles".

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Have you invested in self-development and done in... by prions on Wednesday April 06, 2022 @12:23PM (#30934087)
IFS patient here as well. Totally agree on how powerful it can be, and how deep of a connection you can get with some far off parts of yourself. I find the whole concept a great mental model of how my mind works.

Also as a software engineer whose always been on the analytical/intellectual side of reasoning, I prefer the psychodynamic nature IFS as opposed to modalities like CBT. Really helped open me up to being more emotionally intelligent and aware.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Have you invested in self-development and done in... by dontbeevil1992 on Wednesday April 06, 2022 @04:22PM (#30937025)
that's awesome. I think CBT is really reductive. Quite pessimistic, as well - CBT seems to hold little hope of actually healing many issues, but only aims for symptom management. I think that's because it's not a very good therapy for many (most?) situations so it has to rationalize it by saying true healing is impossible.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Have you invested in self-development and done in... by hugohamelcom on Wednesday April 06, 2022 @03:03PM (#30936180)
Interesting, I had never heard of Internal family systems before, I'll definitively look it up.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Have you invested in self-development and done in... by dontbeevil1992 on Wednesday April 06, 2022 @04:21PM (#30937009)
IFS is amazing.
[ Parent | on HN ]