Are constellations psychotherapeutic methods?

Some refer to constellations as psychotherapeutic methods, which its founder Bert Hellinger never agreed with. What he managed to create was something unique.

It is not a psychotherapeutic method, but a life aid that can open the way to a fulfilled and happy life for everyone. In order to avoid misunderstandings arising from the translation of the term "family constellations" and confusion with previous psychotherapeutic methods, Sophie Hellinger decided in 2020 to keep the word "family constellations" not translated in all languages as a technical term for the original Hellinger family constellations - analogous to "Gestalt Therapy" Fritz Pearl.

Many therapists and facilitators create their own offshoots of this method. Some focus more on the mysticism of this method, while others deny certain phenomena of the original Hellinger constellations. Hellinger is even called controversial by some, because the original Hellinger constellations really do not adapt to, rather contradict, the trends popular in the last few years.

The original constellation Hellinger's approach was based on the assumption that a person can develop freely only if he is correctly included in the system of his family, where everyone has the place that belongs to him. Willfried Nelles, his most famous student, enriched this approach with the process of inner growth. According to him, we only mature internally if we separate from our parents, and the only way to do that is to accept them as they are and were and accept everything that happened, including your role in it. He emphasizes that there is no turning back in life and that one does not have to take over all the traumas, habits and family traditions from one's ancestors. He claims that it is not necessary to get involved in the past, because life naturally calls us forward.

In order for a person to move forward, he does not need to change and clean up his past, nor the past of his ancestors. It is enough if he accepts her with everything as it happened. This acceptance will give a person tremendous strength to move on. There is no need to ask why this is happening, but how to get out of it.

Alexandra Alexander