The
family constellations are a type of therapeutic dynamic that is having a great boom in recent times. This psychotherapeutic process is carried out in a group and seeks to awaken the feelings and emotions that we have latent in our unconscious.

The theoretical support of family constellations is rather questionable . This practice is usually based on the fact that we live with certain unconscious emotional conflicts that we have not been able to resolve throughout our lives. This unconscious burden can lead us to experience pain and other emotional problems, without us having the possibility of getting rid of the cause of the problem. These internal conflicts can lead to behavioral problems and be in permanent dispute with certain people in our environment.

Family Constellations: Family Introspection Therapy

But what exactly are the dynamics of family constellations? The dynamics are carried out with several people gathered in the same room. These are people who have no family ties to each other and who want to get to know each other better and perhaps
overcoming some family and interpersonal conflicts that have dragged on for years .

We must make a small clarification: although family constellations are carried out in groups, it is not considered as a usual group therapy, since there are important methodological differences with respect to these.

The philosophical and methodological bases

The driving force behind the constellation method is the psychologist, educator and priest of the Catholic Church
Bert Hellinger . This German developed the basis of family constellations in the 1990s, and is considered the founder and main author.

During his professional career of more than half a century
Hellinger researched, processed and collected data on the families he helped . He discovered that most of us unconsciously reproduce patterns and dynamics within our families. These are patterns that, very often, lead us to have bad psychological experiences: anxiety, anger, guilt, contempt, isolation… In addition, we may be suffering from certain disorders as a result of our relationship with relatives, such as alcoholism or emotional dependence.

Hellinger reflects and says that, as children, we are likely to sacrifice our own
emotional balance to address the emotional problems of our parents or other close relatives. According to Hellinger, family constellations can help to discover and reinterpret these unconscious patterns so that we are able to live and relate in a healthier, more balanced and happier way.

In short, the aim of family constellations is to detect and discover the unconscious dynamics of each family and the attitudes and behaviours that occur among its members. Through experimentation
in situ , the participants in these dynamics can inspect their hidden feelings about their relatives, being an opportunity to find solutions to these latent conflicts.

Family constellation sessions: how are they conducted?

So,
how exactly do family constellations work? In a room set up, several people meet (usually between 5 and 12), including the constellator, who acts as a therapist and organises the dynamics.

Usually, sessions are extended by several hours. Each workshop consists of 4 to 7 people, as the therapist sees fit, based on the family to be represented in the dynamic.
Each of the participants has a turn to represent their own family, for one hour .

During the time in which a constellation passes, the rest of the participants stage and represent the unconscious experiences of the person who is doing the therapy. After each shift there is a break of a quarter of an hour to take a breath and continue with the next person. In this way, the therapeutic dynamic is linked and each participant carries out their own personal therapy and participates in the therapy of the other participants.

The people who participate in the dynamics do not have to know the characteristics or theories on which this type of therapy is based. The way of working is totally experiential, although the therapist imposes a series of indispensable methodological elements. All the assistants carry out their own therapy, but
also benefit from experiencing all the roles in representing the relatives of the other participants , and drawing similarities with their own personal and family stories.

A therapy… useful? More like pseudoscience…

The dynamics that are developed in the family constellations do not have any scientific support . In fact, this practice is frequently related to pseudoscience and superstition. It is one of the fashions new age that have acquired relevance among spiritual and pseudo-psychological circles.

In any case, here we will limit ourselves to describe, or rather to echo, all the possible applications of this type of therapy based on the testimony of Hellinger and other prominent defenders of this therapeutic practice.

Family constellation therapists often point out that this type of therapy is useful for dealing with systemic issues within the family.
It can help to resolve entrenched conflicts and to reinterpret family relationships , and by extension to find a new meaning to life.

Conflicts often treated by this therapy

  • Problems in family relationships
  • Childhood trauma
  • Problems with partner or old relationships
  • Relationship with children
  • Depression, sadness
  • Mourning processes
  • Coping with severe pathologies
  • Isolation, feelings of loneliness
  • Other conflicts

One more among the existential therapies

Existential therapies
are based on a phenomenological vision of the human psyche , and therefore of the psychological conflicts that we suffer. The dynamics of existential therapies leave the therapist in the background, and focus on allowing the patient to carry out a deep introspection.

This allows the person to detect latent conflicts and try to resolve them, usually through reinterpretation and reconciliation with certain people and events of the past. However, its scientific basis is non-existent so from Psychology and Mind we must warn that participating in this type of session can be useless and even harmful.