MessageHi Dan,
thanks for putting the abstract in here, and for doing this paper at all.
Are you aware that Gunthard Weber is one of the founders of the Carl Auer
Publishing company, who published most of Berts books?
He might be interesting in publishing this himself, even in German, or he
will know whom to ask for the English version.
All the best with your project
Thomas Falke
---- -Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
Von: Daniel Booth Cohen [mailto:danbcohen@xxxxxxx]
Gesendet: Montag, 17. Mai 2004 02:58
An: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Betreff: RE: [ConstellationTalk] YOUR PAPER
Preeti, Calista, Chris and all -
Thanks for all the interest in my paper. It has been completed and
accepted by my Committee and the Saybrook faculty. My next step was to send
copies to Bert Hellinger, Hunter Beaumont, Gunthard Weber and Albrecht Mahr
seeking their input. Bert wrote back immediately with a couple of important
corrections and some new information.
I will be collecting comments from the others and making the necessary
changes. I am eager to share my work and somewhat cautious about how I go
about distribution. My biggest concern is that my work does not contain
inaccuracies or errors that risk turning into urban legends about Bert. A
secondary concern is that I would like to publish the paper. In the
short-term I do not want to compromise my chances by making my paper a
public document prematurely.
If anyone here knows of editors that might be receptive to publishing a
version of the paper please let me know.
In the meanwhile, here is the Abstract.
Dan
Abstract
BERT HELLINGER'S FAMILY CONSTELLATION METHOD
AND ITS PLACE IN THE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC TRADITION
Daniel Booth Cohen
Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center
The German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger (b. 1925) is among the most
well-known, influential and controversial practitioners living in Europe
(Stiefel, Harris and Zollman, 2002). A former German army soldier, Catholic
priest, and classically-trained psychoanalyst, Hellinger distilled European
existential phenomenology (Brentano, Husserl, Binswanger, Heidegger),
American family systems theory (Moreno, Boszormenyi-Nagy, Satir) and the
devotion of African Zulus for their ancestors into a powerful single-session
intervention that fits within the tradition of what Taylor (1999, 2000,
2003) calls an existential-humanistic and transpersonally-oriented depth
psychology. Despite having published more than 30 books with combined sales
of one million copies in at least ten languages, Hellinger's work is
virtually unknown in the United States. Because his contributions are not
documented in peer-reviewed journals, Americans working in the field of
family therapy are generally unaware of his work.
This paper serves as a broad introduction to Hellinger and his Family
Constellation method. The first section includes a biography, covering his
upbringing in Nazi Germany, renunciation of the secular life, years as a
Roman Catholic priest living and teaching among the South African Zulus,
training as a psychotherapist, and emergence as best-selling author. The
second section outlines major influences and lineages that fed his
development, specifically, philosophic and therapeutic phenomenology, Zulu
ancestor worship, and family systems therapy. A description of the Family
Constellation method itself is presented, including a single case study.
Hellinger's work is then located within the three streams of American
psychology proposed by Taylor's model--academic, clinical and experiential
depth psychology, suggesting that he fits best within the third stream.
Finally, the paper suggests that because his methods of treatment have not
yet been confirmed according to the criteria set by the reductionistic,
positivist mainstream, they are not sanctioned either by experimental or
clinical psychologists. Thus it is, that a man who has ignited a revolution
in therapeutic practice in Europe, does not exist within the official
borders of American psychology.
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