I've been looking at the idea of mapping. It is kind of similar with the idea of protector parts (managers and firefighters) and exiled parts. I think the concept of "SELF" is different though. In most of the other things I've read about trauma and dissociation, for people with ANP, that is the SELF. In IFS, the SELF is separate. The ANPs are the managers.
So my current understanding, in attempts to synthesize this (I think I wrote at length about it on your SD thread), In IFS construct/therapy, the managers are what allow us to function normally in the world; the firefighters kick in when the managers wear out or can't function for some reason; and the exiles are the wounded parts of ourselves. The managers and firefighters are protector parts that work to prevent the exiles from expressing themselves because they believe that the exiles will overwhelm us. All these parts are (in the ideal) led by the SELF whose characteristics are described in the image. But in people like us, the SELF gets lost under all the noise and beliefs and behavior of protectors and exiles.
In other models, including the ones that do mapping, it strikes me that there is not a separate concept of SELF...that in other models, the self is called the host, or is some adult/ANP which is mostly in control, or a working relationship among more than one ANP that is intended to be understood and then used to manage the EPs. And I also get the sense that in other models, the firefighters are targeted for control vs. compassion, acceptance, and listening. So, for example, people who have issues with self-harming might be guided very very differently in IFS therapy than they would in other therapies. Does that make sense?
The approach of other models would have been disastrous for me (had I sought help between college and now) because what I have always understood to be myself is actually a really dysfunctional and enmeshed relationship among my manager and firefighter parts (even though on the outside it mostly appeared very functional except for the times things got extreme), and it was these that kept all the emotional stuff of the exiles locked down deep. To be able to recognize my ANP(s) as actually being managers and firefighters working to protect me in their own dysfunctional ways, and NOT as my SELF, has been a long and difficult process, but is truly exciting and liberating when I can access that SELF energy. It feels completely different in my body and my mind.
This page has an image that shows the basics in a map if you scroll partway down:
http://lifeasawave.net/tag/internal-family-systems/
I can't vouch for the page contents, except for the map. I found it on google images.
