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Historical Foundations
of Family System Constellations
By Jamy Faust, Contributing editor: J. Edward Lynch, Ph.D.
The fundamental idea that the family is an interactive unit
affected by past generations and operating by a set of unifying
principles, which include the idea that the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts, is at the foundation of Family
Therapy. Its evolution can be traced by following the development
of key theories and approaches that include Bowen, Satir,
Minuchin, The MRI group in Palo Alto and the Milan Group in
Italy. Beginning in the early 60s, notable family therapist
Virginia Satir recognized that a symptom manifest in one member
of the family had a function in balancing the system and the
system had a part in maintaining the symptom. Over time, Satir
and others expanded on this concept and established a three-generational
model called Family Reconstruction.
Family Therapy grew from practice to theory as Salvador Minuchin
began his model of Structural Family Therapy, focusing on
family hierarchy and boundaries and the belief that interventions
could aid families in interacting helpfully and productively.
Around the same time, the Milan Group in Italy began to work
with families and came to the conclusion that, problems involved
the family as a whole, not just an individual, and that there
is a repetition of patterns from one generation to another.
One of the first therapists to concentrate on the family
of origin was Murray Bowen. At the core of his theory was
the concept of differentiation, the degree of emotional reactivity
to the family. His focus was helping individuals avoid becoming
"swallowed-up" by predicable family dynamics. An
outgrowth of the work of Bateson, Watzlawick, and Fisch and
the Palo Alto group involved with patterns of communication
was Strategic Family Therapy, and later Brief Therapy. Jay
Haley emerged as a leader in the US using the teachings and
techniques of Milton Erickson, M.D., an outstanding hypnotherapist
whose work concentrated around interactive patterns. Each
of these major theorists had a part in creating a body of
knowledge and a way of intervening with individuals, couples,
and families that went beyond the confines of psychodynamic
work. They included ideas such as the individual symptom should
be seen as a function of the whole system. The reframe, was
the therapist's attempt to weave the family's content and
process together in a way that expanded the focus to include
all members of the family. Family Constellation work makes
these concepts a dynamic interaction that takes into consideration
all these concepts and the intergenerational patterns that
have been handed down to the individual from the past. Family
Constellations might be considered a powerful "Brief
Therapy" that gets to the core of the disturbance within.
Jake and Zerka Moreno's Psychodrama approach has clients assign
family members to act out other roles within the family in
order to help the client realize unconscious dynamics in the
family. Family Sculpting, created by Virginia Satir and was
later further developed by Fred and Bunny Duhl and David Kantor.
This was considered an effective method of blending the cognitive
and the experiential by physically arranging the family members
as the client sees them so that a goal of re-shaping the family
can occur. While Hellinger's constellation also uses visual
representation, it is unlike Psychodrama and Family Sculpting
in that representatives stand quietly and allow themselves
to be impacted internally by the power of the family dynamics,
manifest through the Constellation that has been set up by
the client.
Hellinger said in an interview with Norbert Linz, "I
am not convinced the constellations always reveal an objective
historical truth about the family, but they are reliable in
pointing toward constructive resolutions." Further, Hellinger's
method allows a greater "kind of seeing that looks beyond
the surface of the actual phenomenon. It sees what's happening
at the moment in its full context and its full meaning."
Bert Hellinger has added a dimension to Family Constellations
that offers the opportunity for significant insights to systemic
psychotherapy, called "orders of love." He shows
that "love is at work behind all human behavior,"
that there is a great need for "balance in giving and
taking and in gain and loss in the system," and that
"every member, living or dead, has an equal right to
belong." Hellinger's Constellation Method ultimately
… [tries] to find out what separates and what reunites."
At a glance it appears that Bert Hellinger's concepts of
Family Constellation are merely natural continuations of the
multi-generational work of Satir, the Milan group, and the
brevity and intensity of several of the Strategic therapies.
But upon greater investigation it is realized that there is
a heightened sense of spirituality in his work that differentiates
it from others. It could be his early influence as a Catholic
priest, his many years as a Zulu missionary, or his great
love for the philosophical teachings of the Chinese philosopher
Kung Tse (Confucius) that offers the idea that man must look
at opposites in order to find the truth. All these ideas combine
in a way that makes Hellinger's work a unique approach. The
work is new and fascinating in its effect on the participants
in a constellation and how it helps the entire system move
into wholeness.
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