Family Constellation Therapy: The Definitive Guide
Family Constellation Therapy: The Definitive Guide
Family Constellation Therapy is a new-age method of group or individual therapy that people can use to heal themselves of past or present family trauma, or address generational issues.
Everything that you need to know about how the Family Constellation Therapy (FCT) treatment method was developed, what the process is, and who all can benefit from it, is discussed at length in this guide.
If you want to know more about:
- The fundamentals of FCT
- The history behind it
- Types of therapy involved in it
- Techniques used in FCT
- Benefits of FCT
- Various criticisms of the therapy
Then this guide is for you.
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Chapter 1
The Fundamentals of Family Constellation Therapy
Chapter 2
The Process and Types of Therapy Involved in Family Constellation Therapy
Chapter 3
The Techniques Used in Family Constellation Therapy
Chapter 4
Important Concepts of Family Constellation Therapy
Chapter 5
Who Benefits from Family Constellation Therapy?
Chapter 6
Criticisms of Family Constellation Therapy
Chapter 1:
The Fundamentals of Family Constellation Therapy
The dynamics present in your family, the relationships the members have with one another, and shared trauma, grievances, or generational problems, can often translate into different behavioral patterns that affect you as an individual. As we go on with the guide, I will teach you all that there is to know about how the Family Constellation Therapy method can be used to uncover, accept, and overcome any issues that you may have present in the family.
This chapter is about how the method was developed, who Bert Hellinger, the man behind the therapy is, and what Family Constellation Therapy is in general.
What is Family Constellation Therapy?
Before understanding what Family Constellation Therapy is, we need to first delve into what the term ‘family constellations’ means in general.
What does the term, Family Constellations, mean?
The term ‘family constellations’ was coined first by Alfred Adler, the founder of individual psychology. He used the term to define certain bonds and the relationships that family members have with one another in the same family tree. These bonds do not have to be within the same generation. They can exist across generations as well, which is what family constellation therapy aims to address.
A family constellation, according to Alfred Adler, is defined by the relationships the family members have with one another, their perception of each other, and their roles in the family. Each member of the family plays a part in shaping the values the child develops, the family dynamics, and sets a tone for the differences (age, cultural, gender) that will arise in the future.
Now that we know the concept behind family constellations, we can start to look into what Family Constellation Therapy actually is.
What is Family Constellation Therapy?
Family Constellation Therapy or Systemic Constellation Therapy, is an alternative approach to family therapy. The therapy was designed by German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, who had been practicing family therapy in the 1990s. The approach behind the therapy is to address any and all concerns that lie within a family, or with an individual family member.
It explores the dynamics that family members have with each other, their perception of each other, and how any situations, events, or patterns impact their relationship in the family. The process aims to provide a fresh outlook to individual members of the family and refresh their existing perceptions of one another.
We have the general meaning of Family Constellation therapy and what family constellations are. Now we can take a look into who the psychotherapist who formulated the theory is, Bert Hellinger, and how he came to design the theory.
Who is Bert Hellinger?
Bert Hellinger was a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst who practiced family therapy in different settings and developed the Family Constellations Therapy method. He was actively involved with group dynamics and relationships from his early days, when he worked as a missionary in South Africa.
While Bert was on his journey to becoming a priest, he was also studying philosophy and theology at the University of Würzburg in Germany. He also got his degree in education which allowed him to teach for the 16 years he spent in South Africa as a missionary. He managed to learn about family and group dynamics in the time he spent there by relationships between the Zulu people.
After his time in South Africa came to an end, he returned to Germany to spend time researching and learning about psychoanalysis. He traveled to Vienna and the United States for this purpose.
This was fueled by his drive to understand more about how relationships within a family work, what the triggers are, and how the problems among family members can be solved.
He has toured, taken workshops and published various transcripts and books talking about his Family Constellation Therapy, right up until his passing in 2019.
The Origin of Family Constellation Therapy
Bert Hellinger’s influences began in his early days when he started to work as a missionary in South Africa. He observed their dynamics and carried his observations throughout his time while he was studying and practicing as a psychotherapist. His education also played a major role in the development of Family Constellation Therapy.
A lot of his influences came from different therapies that already existed in the 1980s and 1990s for family therapy. Some of his most impactful influences include the following therapies:
- Transactional analysis therapy
- Family sculpting
- Psychodrama
- NLP
- Transgenerational psychology
- Gestalt therapy
- Provocative therapy
- Holding therapy
Bert Hellinger never claimed to have founded Family Constellation Therapy. Instead, he used the learnings of the therapies mentioned above, combined them, and reshaped them to fit a new and non-traditional approach to family therapy, which is now known as Family Constellation Therapy.
Now that we have a better understanding of how Family Constellation Therapy came to exist, and who Bert Hellinger is, we can take a look at what the treatment process is in the next chapter.
