Patriarchy and our mental health3/7/2025 Richard C. Schwartz, the founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, has extensively explored the concept of legacy burdens in the United States, with patriarchy being a notable example. According to Schwartz, here are three ways patriarchy can impact our mental health: 1. “Patriarchy encourages us to suppress qualities that don’t fit the prescribed masculine ideal. This leads to self-rejection, shame, and disconnection from our true selves, perpetuating cycles of pain and inequality.” 2. “The patriarchal framework creates a split within us—encouraging men to suppress vulnerability and women to silence their power. To heal, we must recognize and integrate these divided parts of ourselves.” 3. “True healing requires not just the transformation of the individual, but the systems and structures that reinforce disempowerment. If we don’t address the societal impact, like patriarchy, we can never fully heal our internal family dynamics.” What do you make of these? I would love to hear your thoughts. You can add comments below or get in contact with me here. Chris Warren-Dickins Psychotherapist & Author 
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The "why" behind confusing behavior3/4/2025 It can help to understand the "why" of someone's behavior. The same can be said about extremism. To belong, to have a sense of identity; these are powerful needs that compel some to act in surprising ways. The answer: Help them to meet those needs in a healthier way. https://youtube.com/shorts/ArUzs5nD0Tk?si=lvZJ3s_AfPCPNeSF Our legacy burdens3/3/2025 In a sea of uncertainty, we can keep afloat by understanding the legacies that have led us to this current turmoil. Richard C. Schwartz and Martha Sweezy explain this in their book, Internal Family Systems Therapy: “The United states carries a variety of legacy burdens some brought by early Europeans and some gathered as the country developed. We believe that the following legacy burdens are linked and have been particularly instrumental in shaping the nature of exiling in this country: · Racism: Used to justify the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans, who were abducted from their homes. · Patriarchy: Sprang from European and religious roots. · Individualism: Produced by the survival struggles of pioneers, individualism fosters contempt for vulnerability and a belief that failure is a personal fault. · Materialism: Produced in part by the economic and physical hardships suffered by immigrants to the American continent, it is no doubt made worse by the routine, threatening cycles of financial boom and bust that typify capitalist economies. These formidable legacy burdens exist along with others that relate to the long history of domestic and foreign wars as well as internecine efforts to exclude particular religious groups formerly Catholics and Jews now Muslims. In addition to these burdens people in the United states carry beliefs and emotions that derive from the history of their particular ethnic groups many come from immigrant groups that were repeatedly invaded starved subjected to natural disasters or oppressed for generations by scapegoating discrimination pogroms and Holocausts. Their progeny inherit the shamefulness fear despair grief loyalty rage and distrust of authority generated by these traumas often without a specific narrative to connect their feelings and beliefs to the burdens origins.” Do you have any thoughts on this? How much do you believe that these legacy burdens are impacting your mental health? I would love to hear from you. You can contact me via this page, or add a comment below. Chris Warren-Dickins Psychotherapist & Author  Chris
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