Richard C. Schwartz

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Richard C. Schwartz
Born (1949-09-14) September 14, 1949 (age 76)
—
EducationPh.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy, Purdue University
OccupationPsychotherapist · Author · Academic
Years active1970s–present
OrganizationsIFS Institute; Family Institute at Northwestern University; Institute for Juvenile Research (University of Illinois, Chicago); Harvard Medical School (faculty)
Known forCreator of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of therapy; founder of the Center for Self Leadership (now IFS Institute)
Notable workIntroduction to the Internal Family Systems Model (2001)

Richard C. Schwartz (born 14 September 1949), [1] is an American systemic family therapist, academic, author, and creator of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) branch of therapy. [2] [3] He developed his foundational work with IFS in the 1980s [4] after theorizing that his clients were made up of many different pieces of "parts" of their "Self." [5] [6] He teaches that, "Our inner parts contain valuable qualities and our core Self knows how to heal, allowing us to become integrated and whole. In IFS all parts are welcome." [7]

Contents

Career

Schwartz earned his Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from Purdue University. He has taught at several institutions, including the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago [8] [9] and Northwestern University as well as Harvard Medical School. [4] [3] [6]

He is the founder of the Center for Self Leadership in 2000, but in 2019, the organization changed its name to the IFS Institute. [10]

Controversies

A 2025 article published in The Cut alleges that while working at Castlewood Treatment Center, Richard C. Schwartz was aware of Mark Schwartz' (no relation) IFS patient treatment that became the subject of abuse and recovered memories lawsuits. It also claims that according to Harvard staff Schwartz did not teach at Harvard Medical School, but instead was a non-faculty teaching associate at the Cambridge Health Alliance. [11]

Publications

Schwartz has published over 50 articles about IFS, [12] [13] and his authorship includes the following books:

References

  1. ↑ Birth date from ISNI, retrieved 2023-07-18
  2. ↑ "Richard Schwartz | Faculty Member | Esalen". www.esalen.org. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  3. 1 2 "Richard C. Schwartz". Guilford Press. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  4. 1 2 "Center for Mindfulness & Compassion - Boston". Center for Mindfulness & Compassion. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  5. ↑ Qureshi-Hurst, Emily (2021-07-01). "Interview With Dr. Richard Schwartz: No Bad…". Spirituality+Health. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  6. 1 2 3 Biancolli, Amy (2022-07-16). "The Parts Within Us: An Interview with Richard Schwartz, Creator of Internal Family Systems". Mad In America. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  7. ↑ "What is Internal Family Systems? | IFS Institute". ifs-institute.com. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  8. ↑ "Richard Schwartz | IFS". internalfamilysystems.pt. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  9. ↑ "Institute for Juvenile Research".
  10. ↑ "About Us | IFS Institute". ifs-institute.com. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  11. ↑ Corbett, Rachel (2025-10-30). "The Truth About IFS, the Therapy That Can Break You". The Cut. Archived from the original on 2025-10-30. Retrieved 2025-11-09.
  12. ↑ Burgoyne, Nancy (2017), "Schwartz, Richard C." , in Lebow, Jay; Chambers, Anthony; Breunlin, Douglas C. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–2, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_927-1, ISBN   978-3-319-15877-8 , retrieved 2024-02-06
  13. ↑ see also Internal_Family_Systems_Model#Further_reading
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