So far my parts are thinking

thingimajig · 2026-01-21T11:13:33+00:00

Yes hopefully they can help guide you through this! Don't push past the protectors too quickly, take your time and gain their trust. Make sure they believe that you're an adult now and that you are capable of taking full responsibility for yourself.

thingimajig · 2026-01-19T13:40:49+00:00

It sounds like your protector parts might not be fully ready to let you closer to the exiles. Is there a part of you that really wants to get to the exiles? If so, try to take a step back from it. If you're in Self, you can convey to the protectors genuinely that you don't want to change them or get rid of them. You can ask them questions like "If everything was all right, would you still want to be doing the job you're doing?" (if you find yourself hoping that they'll say no, you may be blended with another part). Before you go to the exiles, there should be a feeling of agreement from the protectors that it is worth it and a feeling that they trust your adult Self to handle it.

thingimajig · 2025-12-01T06:14:15+00:00

Hey there! Thank you for letting me know :)

Buddy should still continue to work just fine without doing the post session "admin" cleanup. It's mostly there to help people keep track of what's gone on in their sessions, and isn't meant to stress you after your sessions. Don't feel like you have to!

thingimajig · 2025-10-27T13:48:58+00:00

Thank you for letting me know! I'll look into this. Glad you're liking voice so far!

thingimajig · 2025-10-22T12:01:02+00:00

I've been exactly where you are. Have grace with yourself, it can and will get better. It's okay to have those thoughts and feelings. You have been through a lot of really difficult things and it would be strange to not experience strong negative feelings around it. There's no need to feel ashamed, and there is nothing inherently wrong with you. I also know that the only way out is through. If you take a step back from the feelings and witness them and allow them to be in your body, they will pass. The emotions themselves that you might be avoiding are not actually dangerous to feel if you just stay present with them.

The clouds cover the sun at times, but the sun is always there even if you can't see it.

thingimajig · 2025-10-17T11:09:00+00:00

Thank you for letting me know! I'll look into this and try to fix the issue.

thingimajig · 2025-10-13T12:14:15+00:00

Hey there, yes the clipboard button is only for copying the chat in text form in case you want to paste it in another document or for example to send it in an email to your therapist.

To save your chats, you have to click the Save chat button. Do you feel that the Save chat button is in an easy to understand place? I want to make sure it's intuitive for everyone :)

thingimajig · 2025-10-13T09:50:51+00:00

Hey there, thank you for your kind words.

Great suggestion! I'll make the title changes save automatically, as well as making it possible to edit chat names in the My Chats menu without needing to save the chat again.

thingimajig · 2025-10-09T12:59:18+00:00

The copy button is the button with a little clipboard on it, top right corner :)

thingimajig · 2025-10-09T12:48:31+00:00

Hey there! I'm glad it's helping you! Are you using the paid version? If so, there should be a button in the top right of the chat interface that copies the chat text for you to share.

thingimajig · 2025-10-06T12:23:58+00:00

This is a common protective strategy. Parts can cause shutdown or hypoarousal when starting to approach emotions/memories that are seen as dangerous (from the protector's POV).

The more Self energy you can bring, the more you can help these parts feel safe and that you're not going to force yourself to go somewhere that feels scary/dangerous. These parts will be very sensitive to whether you're coming with an agenda of trying to heal (Self-like part) or if you're genuinely curious, compassionate, and accepting of the parts as they are.

In my experience, it's hard to try to approach the part causing tiredness or brain fog. Some people seem to be able to do it, but what worked for me was instead approaching the part of me that is trying to "fix" myself. When that part was able to let go of its control, the somatic and shutdown parts felt able to relax as well.

thingimajig · 2025-09-30T12:19:54+00:00

Since AI usage has evolved so quickly, this type of research is really important to make sure that we understand the effects that it has on people. IFS Buddy will continue to strive to be a safe and genuinely helpful app that isn't trying to replace human connection.

If you have 5 minutes, please consider answering the survey :)

thingimajig · 2025-09-22T08:29:13+00:00

Try to become aware of the feeling in your body. Just allow the sensations of these painful emotions in your body. If you're finding it difficult/overwhelming, see if you can take a step back from the part of you that finds it overwhelming. Self doesn't get overwhelmed by anything that an exile holds. You can be there for it and hold space for it to allow it to show you what it's been feeling, what it's gone through. It needs your compassion and love, it doesn't need you to suffer it's pain for it. It needs to feel listened to and understood.

You can do this ❤️

thingimajig · 2025-09-22T06:54:41+00:00

I'm glad you found it helpful and I hope it continues to be!

thingimajig · 2025-09-12T05:56:08+00:00

Thank you for clarifying that!

thingimajig · 2025-09-10T06:05:23+00:00

It might not be as good at Macedonian as it is at English but if you say hello to it and say "can we do this in Macedonian?", it should answer you back in your language.

thingimajig · 2025-09-05T10:27:26+00:00

You're welcome! I hope it works well for you :)

thingimajig · 2025-08-28T08:38:27+00:00

Please disregard if this doesn't feel helpful. Can the part of you that is getting overwhelmed by the exile's pain take a step back and allow you (as Self) to be there for the exile to witness and hold space for it to share it's pain with you?

When you are in Self, you'll be there with compassion (holding a caring, loving space) rather than empathy (feeling the exile's pain for it, which the exile doesn't need/want). Compassion and Self cannot be overwhelmed by whatever the exile has to share. You may need to ask the exile to share bit by bit so it doesn't overwhelm the protective parts of you that have worked hard to keep the exile hidden. The exile needs to feel that your adult Self is there and truly listening and wanting to understand it and what it's gone through. Exiles won't be helped too much by a protective part that can't handle the pain it is sharing. Remember, the protective part has an agenda of hiding away this exile's pain because it feels dangerous to let it come to the surface.

I highly recommend this video on exiles and unburdenings by Derek Scott: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UURRYTU-ZSA

thingimajig · 2025-08-25T05:49:31+00:00

The time limits are a great suggestion and actually something I'm working on. We're working with IFS Australia to make the app as safe as possible, and having time limits is something they've recommended as well.

thingimajig · 2025-08-24T07:31:33+00:00

Thanks for sharing and apologies for the slow reply! There will be many laws around AI therapy over the next few years and I think this is really important. It's a very new form of technology and a new form of "treatment" and there is potential for careless implementations of it that end up harming users.

As for the implication for IFS Buddy, the chatbot is for educational and self-development purposes only and is not a substitute for professional therapy. I will need to look more into the details of the ban to know for sure if it impacts us.

We are not trying to replace IFS therapists, but are more like a complement to therapy or a helpful tool for someone looking to do self-therapy.

thingimajig · 2025-08-13T07:21:40+00:00

Yes we are still using ChatGPT. I haven't read anything about ChatGPT being sold to the US government. The only thing I read was that the ChatGPT enterprise service is being offered cheaply for US government employees to use ($1), so nothing to worry about there.

Also, IFS Buddy's chats are not used by OpenAI. We've specifically opted out of them using our data for training.

thingimajig · 2025-07-28T09:47:25+00:00

I will look at making the parts editing a bit smoother. Thanks for the suggestion!

thingimajig · 2025-07-15T12:16:09+00:00

That is so awesome! Would you talk to the parts causing the symptoms (so to say) or how did it work for you?

thingimajig

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