Richard C. Schwartz

Richard C. Schwartz (born 14 September 1949) is an American systemic family therapist, academic and author, and the creator of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of therapy. He developed IFS in the 1980s after theorizing that his clients were made up of many different parts of a core Self, and teaches that the inner parts hold valuable qualities while the Self knows how to heal, so that all parts are welcome. Schwartz earned his doctorate in marriage and family therapy at Purdue University and has taught at the Institute for Juvenile Research of the University of Illinois at Chicago, at Northwestern University and at Cambridge Health Alliance. He founded the Center for Self Leadership in 2000, renamed the IFS Institute in 2019. He has published more than 50 articles on IFS and several books, including No Bad Parts and the IFS skills training manual. A 2025 magazine article raised allegations about his earlier consulting work at a treatment center.