🕯️ IFS and Inhalant Use Disorder

A bag, a can, a chemical haze. The moment it hits, the world blurs, and for a fleeting time the pain quiets. It feels like escape, like relief, until the shame, danger, or emptiness rushes back harder than before.

Traditional views call this Inhalant Use Disorder. IFS sees something else: protectors who reach for chemicals not to destroy, but to protect — creating numbness or euphoria so exiles don’t drown in grief, fear, or despair.

🕯️ The Traditional View of Inhalant Use Disorder

In the DSM, Inhalant Use Disorder refers to the problematic pattern of using volatile substances (like glue, paint thinner, nitrous oxide, gasoline, or aerosols) to achieve intoxication.

Symptoms may include:

• Strong cravings for inhalants

• Continued use despite harm to health, relationships, or daily life

• Failure to cut down or control use

• Physical or psychological dependence

• Dangerous behaviors while intoxicated

  
  

From the traditional lens, inhalant misuse is explained as:

• A substance abuse disorder fueled by reward circuitry in the brain

• A maladaptive coping mechanism for stress, trauma, or poverty

• A dangerous habit with high medical risk (organ damage, brain injury, sudden death)

  
  

Treatment typically includes:

• Medical stabilization for withdrawal and physical harm

• Therapy and counseling (CBT, motivational interviewing, trauma-informed approaches)

• Support groups and recovery programs

• Addressing social and environmental factors (housing, safety, community support)

  
  

These interventions are vital.But they often don’t ask:

Which parts of me are reaching for the fumes — and what are they protecting me from?

🕯️ How IFS Sees Inhalant Use

Internal Family Systems doesn’t shame the part who inhales. It listens.

From an IFS perspective:

• A Numbing part may use chemicals to block overwhelming memories or feelings.

• A Soothing part may chase euphoria, offering a break from relentless despair.

• A Rebellious part may use inhalants to defy control, punish others, or reclaim a sense of agency.

• A Hopeless part may believe inhalants are the only way to survive unbearable emptiness.

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And beneath them — exiles.Children who felt powerless, abandoned, or invisible. Parts who carried pain too big for their system. Parts who were never given safe comfort, so they cling to chemicals as a substitute.

Through IFS eyes, inhalant use is not simply self-destruction. It is protection in disguise.

🕯️ IFS Doesn’t Just Demand Sobriety. It Builds Relationship.

Most approaches focus on stopping the behavior.IFS moves deeper, asking:

• “What does the part using inhalants hope you’ll feel?”

• “What pain is it protecting you from?”

• “Would it let us stay with it, without trying to take away its job yet?”

  
  

This isn’t about excusing harm. It’s about honoring that the behavior had a purpose, and finding safer ways to meet the same need.

🕯️ The Power of Staying

Inhalant use often brings heavy shame: “Why can’t I stop? Why would I do something so dangerous?”

IFS reframes it: “Of course you turn to this — your protectors are trying to give you relief the only way they know how.”

When protectors are met with compassion instead of judgment, they soften.They begin to trust there might be other ways to soothe, numb, or escape — ways that don’t risk the body’s survival.

🕯️ Yes, Use Recovery Supports — And Still Talk to Your Parts

Detox, therapy, and recovery groups are essential.And alongside them, IFS adds a sacred layer:

• “Which part of me reaches for inhalants?”

• “What exile is it protecting?”

• “What does it need me to understand about its loyalty?”

  
  

Because in IFS, even inhalant use carries meaning.

🕯️ What Liberation Looks Like in IFS

IFS does not see inhalant use as proof of moral failure or weakness. It sees protectors carrying unbearable burdens of pain, emptiness, and fear. It honors their devotion. And it helps them rest when they realize they no longer need chemicals to keep the system alive.

Liberation looks like turning inward and saying:

“I see you, Numbing One. I see you, Soothing One. You don’t have to do this with fumes anymore. I’m here now.”

Healing is not about ripping away inhalants.It is about befriending the protectors who rely on them, until they trust there is safety without the high.

🕯️ Disclaimer & Support

This article is for reflection and education, not a substitute for professional care. If you are struggling with substance use or overwhelming urges, please reach out to a trusted professional or a crisis line right now. You do not have to carry this alone.

Crisis Support Hotlines:

• U.S.: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Call or text 988, or chat via 988lifeline.org

• Canada: Talk Suicide Canada — 1-833-456-4566 or talksuicide.ca

• UK: Samaritans — Call 116 123 or visit samaritans.org

• Australia: Lifeline — Call 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au

• International: findahelpline.com

  
  

IFS does not see inhalant use as brokenness. It sees protectors trying to guard exiles the only way they knew how. And it knows: you are not alone.