Ch 1: Overview

The defining feature of systemic constellation work is the phenomenological constellation which was originally developed for families and then applied to other systems such as businesses, organisations, education and the medical field. These constellations have evolved from the interweaving of three different strands:

Firstly systemic theory as developed by family therapists in the latter half of the 20^th century provides the theoretical basis for understanding the dynamics seen in constellations. 

Systemic theory acknowledges that all elements within a system, such as family members, are interdependent and interactive. It also acknowledges that the system is greater than the sum of its parts. So if you put all the components of a car in a pile on the floor you do not have a car. Similarly a family is more than just a number of individuals lumped together. Each individual has special roles and relates to each other individual in particular ways. This becomes very clear with the simple phrase” Parents are parents and children are children.”

More about Systems Theory & Family Therapy

The second strand is the technique of using representatives first to represent family members and later elements of larger systems and even concepts.  The earliest example of this technique in the Western therapies was Jacob Moreno’s psychodrama, which was developed in the 1920’s and 30’s.

These first two strands were initially interwoven by Virginia Satir in the 1960s with the process of family sculpting. This three dimensional representation of family dynamics was shown to be very powerful in uncovering and clarifying previously hidden dynamics within the system.

More about using representatives

Phenomenology is the third strand. It can be loosely interpreted as being a technique of acknowledging what is without preconception or prejudice. It is far more difficult than it first sounds and requires practice and mental training.

Although the phenomenological method had been present in Buddhist mindfulness practices for 2500 years, it then developed independently as a western philosophical movement from the time of Edmund Husserl.

More about phenomenology

Bert Hellinger was responsible for introducing this third strand, creating a new method composed of all three. The addition of phenomenology gave us a deeper way of perceiving systemic dynamics that permits the emergence of surprising insights.

Bert Hellinger also developed a number of theoretical understandings that further supported the development of this way of working. This included such themes as:

1.    The orders of love. (Hellinger 1998 p151)

2.    An innovative conceptualisation of conscience, guilt and innocence. (Hellinger 1998 pp3--49)

3.    Blind love versus enlightened love as seen in entanglements. (Hellinger 1998 p161)

4.    A useful conceptualisation of feelings as: primary, secondary, taken over and meta-feelings. The division into primary and secondary feelings had already been well established but it is not clear where it originated. Marsha Linehan discusses this distinction  in her book on Dialectic Behaviour Therapy (Linehan 1993 pp227) where she attributes the concept to Greenberg and Safran  (1987)

Greenberg, L. & Safran, J. (1987) Emotion in Psychotherapy. N.Y. Guilford Press
Greenberg, L. & Safran, J. (1987) Emotion in Psychotherapy. American Psychologist
Hellinger B.  Weber G. Beaumont H. (1998) Love's Hidden Symmetry; What Makes Love Work in Relationships ISBN 978-1-891944-00-0
Linehan, M. M. (1993) Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. New York : The Guilford Press.

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