The method of systemic family constellations according to Bert Hellinger for Russia is a relatively new and untested method. In their homeland - in Germany - "family arrangements" began to be used in the 1990s, and in a few years this psychotherapeutic technique literally conquered the whole world. The method of constellations is used in the treatment of various problems - family conflicts, difficulties at work, problems in love relationships. And also in the treatment of various diseases, primarily alcoholism and drug addiction.
Systemic family settings by Hellinger
Bert Hellinger was born in Germany at the most difficult time for the country - in 1925, when fascism was just beginning to gain strength. The family of the future psychotherapist was Catholic, and the matured Hellinger received a philosophical and theological university education, took the rank and went to the missionary in South Africa.
The closeness to God forever determined his life position and hatred of National Socialism. Once in Africa, when he heard the question of a priest educator about what was more important-ideals or people, Bert realized that nothing could be more important than a person. He resigned, and all his further life was aimed at helping people through finding lost family ties and reuniting with the family.
The method of Bert Hellinger's system arrangement is a completely unique method of short-term psychotherapy, which allows finding a solution to the client's problem due to the arrangement - working with the family. And the role of family members and loved ones is performed by strangers - members of the therapeutic group. And sometimes - the psychotherapist.
Hellinger's method is universal and consists in the fact that they give the patients an opportunity to understand practically all their problems.
Today there are several basic types of constellations, but each of them involves creative approach and improvisation:
- family( resolution of family conflicts);
- structural( solving problems at work, getting rid of fears, treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction, etc.);
- organizational( for unraveling problems in work collectives), etc.
The essence of the
method. In the Hellinger arrangement, the person who addressed the problem( client), the arranger( the psychotherapist) and the deputies( the group members) participate. The leader( doctor or client) intuitively distributes people "by roles", determining to each his place in the family. But, how do the arrangements work?
In the course of the work - if the leading real professional, and all the deputies take the process as seriously as possible - everyone starts to feel an inexplicable connection with the client. People feel emotions, experience and say thoughts and feelings that do not really belong to them. This striking effect is called substitutive perception. And the space from where the participants of group therapy receive this information( remember, these people are random and unfamiliar with the client), - the morphic field.
The main source that generates all the current problems of alcoholics or addicts, according to Hellinger, is a family weave. That is, the unfinished process in the family, the breaking of ties, etc., the victim of which becomes the client.
There are three basic first order( law), the restoration of which will help people to understand the causes of their dependence( alcohol and drugs) and overcome it:
- Violation of the balance between the "take" and "give" relationships. The point is that each family member should take and give an equal amount( no matter - money, love, help, feelings).If the balance between spouses is broken, the function of the "weights" can take over the child. This peculiar debt often remains with a person and in the future is able to develop into alcoholism( drug addiction).
- Access to the system. Each family member should take his place in the family, regardless of public, personal and social status. He died, died in the war, left the family, and was not born because of the abortion - he is still in his clear place in the genealogical tree. Dropout of at least one link from the chain can lead to problems in the offspring. So, if after a divorce the mother does not allow communication with the father, excludes him from the life of the child, then in the future serious problems with alcohol are possible. Restoring respect for the pope is the first step towards healing from addiction.
- Hierarchy in the family. The role of "parent-child" should be clearly observed in the family. If someone is not assuming his role( for example, a child is forced from an early age to patronize his mother or father), later he can not build his own life. Also starts to hide problems in alcohol or drugs.
On the video Bert Hellinger on his method of family constellations:
How lessons are held
Important point: the system family arrangements by Hellinger are a short-term psychotherapeutic method. It is conducted only once - it is assumed that for this single session the client will be able to find a solution to the problem and begin to solve it. In this case, the dependence itself is not analyzed - it is important for the doctor to find the cause and designate the solution( for example, make up with the father).
Therefore, the most important in this therapy is the motivation of the most dependent person, his firm decision to learn the origins of his illness and cope with it.
The session can last from 30 minutes to 2 hours. In some regional clinics, psychotherapists even designate the time to 4 hours. There are three types of arrangement: group, in pairs( usually with the spouse) and individual( sometimes the last two connect).
Group sessions
Are held in a group of 5 to 25 people. First, the client as much as possible briefly, without unnecessary emotions and details, voices the problem. The leader( or the client himself) chooses participants as members of the family and loved ones. An individual acts as the client and his problem, in this case dependence on alcohol or drugs.
The client then arranges them in the space of the room as he feels and sees fit. And then he sits down and silently follows the development of the situation - how these people communicate, talk about their thoughts, emotions, fears, and seek a solution to the problem.
Individual
sessions Can be held in one or two stages. First, the client talks in great detail about the dependency, relations in the family, the history of events. Then the session starts( sometimes the doctor asks for a second time).In the course of it, the therapist and the client act as substitutes, changing different roles in one session.
The placement can take 2-3 hours, because it's always difficult for a person to get used to several different roles. In addition, an individual session is always much more expensive than a group session.
The efficiency of all types is the same, the psychotherapist chooses this or that arrangement. So, if a client is not ready to share intimate problems with strangers and refuses to work in a group, the doctor suggests working alone.
Possible danger of the
method Although Bert Hellenger resigned from the priesthood, his theological views largely determined the specifics of the method of family constellations. Immersion in another person, a change in roles, an intuitive search for a solution to someone else's problem - this is all work including with subtle matter, with the soul.
Therefore, opponents of the method of systemic family constellations warn - harm for the deputies can be both real and metaphysical.
- Excessive immersion in the role. Trying on the image of someone else's person( especially if he is already dead), the deputy leaves his personality "beyond the threshold."Such reincarnation threatens with loss of vitality, mental and mental disorders. For example, problems with memory.
- The danger of getting too deep into the problem. Such a risk is already quite real. The distributor is so deeply imbued with the client's problem that he can unconsciously drag it into his own life and become a dependent person himself.
- Destruction of the energy information field. Specialists in energy information medicine assure - during the session, the deputy participant is an open, defenseless system. In this state, it is very easy to take on severe genetic and karmic diseases - both the client and other participants.
On the video about the usefulness and harm of the Hellinger method of arrangement:
Reviews
To believe or not to pre-scientific warnings is a private matter for every person. But the fact remains - family-system arrangements of Hellinger - a method that is still considered "alternative psychotherapy", and many respected doctors oppose. Their arguments are simple and understandable - in Hellinger's arrangements mysterious rituals replaced real therapy, and the effectiveness of such sessions is very doubtful.
Many doctors believe that the danger of family placement by the method of Bert Hellinger is that the solution found is often too categorical( leave the family, quit work, stop communicating with a friend), and the client is offered to implement it immediately.
Reviews of people who have experienced a family structure according to Hellinger on themselves, are even more contradictory. All participants unanimously acknowledge the effectiveness of the methodology - this is a very unusual way to look at problems from the side, to take off part of this load. And most importantly - to find the source of the problem, which is often completely unexpected.
The way to make the arrangement really help to cope with the addiction to alcohol and drugs, only one. You really need to want to overcome the disease, firmly realize that you want to return to a healthy life, that you are ready to deal with the reason that the family setting will open. And then this unusual method of treatment will certainly help.