How do system constellations work?

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Psychology is a very complex science that has many different approaches to the perception of a person, to his psyche, to what is happening in his head. There are those methods that are considered to be scientific, as their effectiveness has been confirmed by practice for many years. But new and new approaches are constantly appearing, and some of them complement the scientific component of psychology (naturally, over time, when they also undergo a kind of test_. However, many methods remain unofficial - they are not recognized by the scientific community, but at the same time they remain relevant in narrow circles. One of the most striking examples is systemic constellations - a psychological approach that, despite the fact that no one recognized it for many decades, still remains relevant and is used by an impressive number of its supporters. How do systemic constellations work?

What is the essence of the method?

System constellations is an unconventional approach in psychology, which is based on the fact that all human problems come from the family, or rather from the family system. Therefore, the essence of this method is the reproduction of this systemin a session to understand it and find the true cause of the problem. This reproduction takes place in reality and is called constellation.

Systemic constellations have been practiced for quite a long time, but still have not received recognition from the scientific community. But people do not always turn to professionals - sometimes they are closer to what they want to believe in, and a lot of people believe in this method. Perhaps the reason is that its creator is not only a psychologist, but also a theologian, a spiritual teacher.

Founder of the movement

Since we are talking about who exactly founded this method, it is worth dwelling on this person. Systemic Family Constellations are the work of Bert Hellinger, a famous psychologist who was born in 1925 in Germany. He was engaged in psychology for a long time, worked as a psychotherapist, however, as mentioned earlier, he was also a theologian. And in the eighties of the last century, Hellinger discovered and introduced the method discussed in this article. That is why it is often called "Hellinger Systemic Family Constellations". This variation is primary and most in demand.

Method roots

The method of systemic constellations is an original offshoot of psychology, but it also has its own roots. Hellinger created this method based on several psychological movements that were relevant at the time. However, if you single out the most important method,The one that most influenced systemic constellations is Eric Berne's script analysis. The essence of this method is to analyze the life situations of each person (this psychologist also believed that all problems come from the family). He believed that each person has his own life scenario, according to which he moves. The script is formed in childhood under the influence of parents and the environment and can only be slightly adjusted in the future.

Hellinger acted precisely in accordance with this method, but at a certain moment he realized that it had its drawbacks - as a result, he developed his own approach. Later it was already called systemic constellations and is known to this day under this name. Bert Hellinger's system constellations are quite popular in narrow circles. It's time to figure out exactly what this approach is.

Problem situation

So what did Bert Hellinger mean? Systemic constellations are not just a psychological term, constellations actually work, and this is how it happens. To begin with, there must be some problematic situation of one of the participants in the psychological session. Strictly speaking, this situation is an element of a certain system, most often a family one. It is with him that the group that participates in the session will have to deal. Bert Hellinger's method of systemic constellations involves the participation of all people, even those who are not familiar with either the person whose problem is being considered, or with anyone from his family.system.

How is the placement?

The focus of the session is the client's story, his problem situation. All participants in the session form a large circle, and the problem is presented in a plane in the space between all people. Each element of the system is first represented in the imagination, and then its place in the real world is taken by a person who is called a deputy. During the session, he represents a specific member of the system - thus, the entire system is replenished, and everyone receives his role. This is exactly how splitting happens. All this is done quietly, slowly and with concentration. Each participant concentrates on their feelings, trying to feel the essence of the person they are replacing in the session.

Vicarious perception

As mentioned earlier, deputies may not know either the client or his relatives, including the person they are replacing in the system. And the client doesn't tell the group anything about them, so people have to focus and try to figure out for themselves what kind of affiliation they have. This is called vicarious perception - people have to become, without outside help, the person they replace. Thus, the lack of information is compensated by this phenomenon of substitute perception, without which the process would be simply impossible. It is likely that this is what repels professional psychologists and psychiatrists from this method.– there is a lot of uncertainty in it, which cannot be scientifically compensated in any way, in order to allow calling the method of system constellations professional.

Source of information

The main source from which participants receive information about the problem, about the client and about the system as a whole, is the so-called "field". That is why people have to concentrate and work in silence - this is how they try to establish a connection with the field in order to get the necessary information about who they replace in the system, as well as about what kind of "dynamics" their character has with the rest of the system participants. This is how the systemic arrangement happens - each participant turns into a substitute, gets used to his own image, drawing information from the field, and then all participants try to reproduce the problem and solve it. The therapist, called the constellator, leads the whole process, giving people the most appropriate roles for them, and also trying to help them solve the problem in the process of constellation.

The main goal of this whole process is to accurately reproduce the situation so that the client can see it live, understand it and accept his problem. Only when he succeeds in doing so is the session considered successful. Then it is considered that he no longer needs to reproduce a specific problem in the conditions of constellation, since he was able to realize it and can now deal with its solution.

Conclusions

As reportedpeople who practice this method, it really helps - participants can look at their situation from a different perspective, try to assess what is happening impartially, without associating all actions with their relatives and friends, which does not allow them to think rationally. And when a person sees a situation performed in real life by strangers, he can understand that this is really his problem - and then he can start looking for a solution to it. Often the client is not able to not only solve his problem on his own, but even see it - this is what the constellation is used for. The client looks at the situation with an outsider's eye and gets a chance to see it as a problem in general, and then recognize it as his own.