Family Constellations

Family Constellations, also known as Systemic Constellations and Systemic Family Constellations, is a pseudoscientific^[1] therapeutic method which draws on elements of family systems therapy, existential phenomenology and Zulu beliefs and attitudes to family.^[2]

Family Constellations diverges significantly from conventional forms of cognitive, behaviour and psychodynamic psychotherapy. The method has been described by physicists as an example of quantum mysticism, and its founder Bert Hellinger incorporated the speculative idea of morphic resonance into his explanation of it. Positive outcomes from the therapy have been attributed to conventional explanations such as suggestion, empathy, and the placebo effect.^[1][3][4]

Practitioners claim that present-day problems and difficulties may be influenced by traumas suffered in previous generations of the family, even if those affected are unaware of the original event. Hellinger referred to the relation between present and past problems that are not caused by direct personal experience as systemic entanglements, said to occur when unresolved trauma has afflicted a family through an event such as murder, suicide, death of a mother in childbirth, early death of a parent or sibling, war, natural disaster, emigration, or abuse.^[5][6]

A constellation session is a one-time event, with no follow-up. It may take place in front of a large audience.^[7]

The term "Family Constellations" was first used by Alfred Adler in a somewhat different context to refer to the phenomenon that each individual belongs to and is bonded in relationship to other members of his or her family system. One premise of his work is that one can inherit trauma.

The philosophical orientation of Family Constellations were derived through an integration of existential phenomenology, family systems therapy, and elements of indigenous mysticism.

Małgorzata Talarczyk of The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic, Poznań University of Medical Sciences in Poland has criticized the family constellation method as not meeting many of aspects of the Polish Code of Ethics for Psychiatrists. In particular, she found that it was inadequate in the areas of "the process, contract, diagnosis, supervision, confidentiality, alternativeness." Thus it is difficult to consider it as "psychotherapy".^[7]

• Internal Family Systems Model

• Boszormenyi-Nagy, Ivan; Spark, G. M. (1973). Invisible loyalties: Reciprocity in intergenerational family therapy. Harper & Row.
• Singer; Lalich, Janja (1996). Crazy Therapies. Jossey-Bass.
• Konkolÿ Thege, Barna; Petroll, Carla; Rivas, Carlos; Scholtens, Salome (2 February 2021). "The Effectiveness of Family Constellation Therapy in Improving Mental Health: A Systematic Review" (PDF). Family Process. 60 (2). Wiley: 409–423. doi:10.1111/famp.12636. ISSN 0014-7370. PMID 33528854. S2CID 231752236.