How Internal Family Systems Can Help Heal Body Image Issues
For a lot of women, especially women who came of age in high-control religious environments like Mormonism, body image isn’t just about what you see when you look in the mirror. It’s tied up with identity, shame, and worth. At Modern Eve, we know that unlearning these beliefs and healing body trauma runs deeper than some surface-level affirmations or diet plans. That’s where Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy comes in with a kind, evidence-supported plan for transforming body image.
In this article, you will learn what IFS is, why it is beneficial for people with body-image issues, disordered eating, and complex PTSD, and why women in Utah and Arizona, specifically those in religious recovery, would particularly benefit from this size-inclusive, weight-neutral approach.
What is IFS?
IFS (Internal Family Systems) is a model of psychotherapy developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz in the 1980s. It sees the mind as a collection of different “parts”, inner voices or subpersonalities with their emotions, roles, and goals. According to IFS:
Everyone has a core Self, a calm, compassionate, curious center that isn’t broken and doesn't need fixing.
Psychological distress comes not from our parts being "bad," but from them taking on extreme roles to protect us.
Healing happens when we learn to listen to and care for our parts, helping them trust the Self instead of acting out of fear or past trauma.
IFS is evidence-based and has shown promise for treating complex PTSD, eating disorders, and body image issues. It is also size-inclusive and aligns well with Health at Every Size (HAES) and fat acceptance principles.
Why Body Image Issues Aren’t Just About the Body
If you’ve grown up being taught that your body is a temple, that your worth is tied to modesty, or that thinness equals virtue, then chances are your relationship with your body is deeply layered. For ex-Mormon women in their 20s, these teachings can linger long after leaving the Church, often showing up as:
Disordered eating patterns (like bingeing, restricting, or emotional eating)
Shame around weight gain or appearance
Compulsive exercising or diet cycling
Fear of being seen or taking up space
Difficulty trusting bodily cues or hunger signals
These issues aren’t shallow. They stem from internalized beliefs, protector parts that want to keep you safe, and exiled parts carrying shame or trauma. IFS doesn’t try to silence these voices; it helps you understand and care for them.
Common Parts That Show Up in Body Image Struggles
In IFS, every “part” serves a purpose, even if its behavior seems destructive. Here are a few standard internal parts we often see in women struggling with body image:
1. The Inner Critic
This part might constantly comment on your weight, food choices, or how you look in clothes. It believes it’s motivating you to “do better,” but it often stems from fear of rejection or past experiences of being judged.
2. The Restrictor
This part might encourage you to skip meals, count calories, or follow rigid rules. Being smaller is often believed to make you more lovable or accepted.
3. The Binge-Eater or Comforter
This part may step in during stress, loneliness, or shame to soothe you with food. It’s not trying to sabotage you—it’s trying to care for an exiled part that feels hurt or alone.
4. Body Shamer
Unique to women from high-control religious backgrounds, this part may still feel anxiety around showing skin or dressing for comfort. It was shaped by messages linking bodily expression with morality or sin.
5. The Exiled Part that feels like something is fundamentally wrong with them.
This part carries deep emotional wounds, shame, rejection, loneliness, or trauma, often from early life, bullying, or purity culture. It’s the part we try to keep hidden, but it’s also where healing begins.
What IFS Therapy Looks Like for Body Image Healing
IFS therapy doesn’t focus on controlling food or changing appearance. Instead, it helps you build a compassionate relationship with your inner parts. Here’s how that process typically works:
Step 1: Getting to Know Your Parts
You’ll learn how to identify different parts that show up in response to food, body image, or emotion. This includes recognizing their voices, behaviors, and fears.
Step 2: Building a Relationship With Self
IFS strengthens your connection to your core Self—the calm, compassionate inner leader. From this place, you can meet your parts without judgment.
Step 3: Listening Instead of Controlling
You'll learn to listen to its concerns rather than “silencing” a binge part or “shutting down” a critic. What is it afraid of? What does it need?
Step 4: Unburdening Exiled Parts
The most profound healing happens when you connect with the parts carrying shame or trauma. Through gentle witnessing and reprocessing (sometimes with support from tools like EMDR), these parts can let go of old burdens.
Step 5: Integration
As parts feel safer and less extreme, they become more cooperative and less reactive. The inner system becomes more harmonious, and your relationship with food and your body becomes less fraught.
Why IFS Works for Ex-Mormon Women
Leaving a high-demand religion like Mormonism can trigger a whole identity crisis, especially around the body. You may find yourself rebelling against old rules, swinging between extremes, or struggling to feel “at home” in your body. IFS is uniquely suited for this healing journey because:
It validates all parts—even the ones that feel confused, devout, or angry.
It doesn’t pathologize eating behaviors but sees them as protective strategies.
It fosters self-trust and inner authority, which are often lost in high-control environments.
It integrates well with weight-neutral and fat-affirming practices.
What About Binge Eating Disorder and Disordered Eating?
IFS is increasingly recognized as a helpful modality for treating binge eating disorder and other forms of disordered eating, especially in those who haven’t found success in traditional talk therapy or CBT-based food tracking.
A 2021 study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that IFS helped participants reduce emotional eating behaviors by helping them understand and soothe protective parts rather than fight against them.¹
In the IFS approach, binge eating is never about “lack of willpower.” It’s a signal from a part trying to help you cope, and healing happens when you learn what that part needs.
IFS Is Compatible With:
Fat Acceptance
Size-Inclusive Therapy
Weight-Neutral Mental Health Support
Modern Eve is committed to all of the above. We don’t promote weight loss goals or assume that smaller is better. We meet you where you are because healing isn’t about changing your body but your relationship with yourself.
Finding the Right Therapist in Utah or Arizona
Say you live in Utah or Arizona and you’re looking for a therapist who is well-versed in body image issues, religious trauma, or disordered eating through IFS. If that’s you, you’re not alone and don’t have to accept outdated or diet-driven care.
So, when you Google search terms like “highly sensitive therapist near me,” “breastfeeding therapist,” “the work therapist,” or “therapist that treats trauma Utah,” remember that not every therapist is trained in size-inclusive, trauma-informed practices. Modern Eve's therapists specialize in helping clients.
Body image distress
Binge eating disorder
Religious trauma
Complex PTSD
Fatphobia and internalized shame
Recovery from rigid belief systems
How to Get Started With IFS for Body Image Healing
Whether you’ve been in therapy before or this is your first step, here’s how to begin your IFS journey at Modern Eve:
1. Schedule a Free Consultation
Visit www.moderneve.org and request a no-pressure intake call. We’ll match you with a therapist who aligns with your goals.
2. Be Honest About Your Experience
You don’t have to sugarcoat or explain away your eating habits, body shame, or doubts. We get it, and we’re here to help.
3. Commit to Gentle Curiosity
IFS is not a quick fix. But it is a transformative journey that invites you to relate to yourself with more compassion, understanding, and peace.
Your Body Isn’t the Problem, But the Shame Is
You don’t need to change your body to be more worthy. You don’t need to win your critic over or control your eating to be lovable. You need a relationship with yourself that honors all the parts of you, the scared ones, the brave ones, the ones still figuring it all out.
Internal Family Systems therapy can help you get there.
Whether in Salt Lake City, Tucson, Mesa, or St. George, Modern Eve supports your healing journey. You can recover from body image pain without dieting, without self-blame, and without doing it alone.
Ready to Begin?
Start your IFS journey today with a therapist who gets it.
Visit www.moderneve.org to schedule your free consultation.