2026 Theses Master's

A Review of Family Constellations: A Psycho-Spiritual Therapeutic Approach to Healing

Angelo, Amy

This research explores the historical development and theoretical position of Family Constellations, also called Family Constellations Therapy or Systematic Constellations in contemporary psychology. Drawing on therapeutic and philosophical traditions including Psychodrama, Gestalt Therapy, Family Therapy, Transactional Analysis, and Philosophical Phenomenology, Family Constellations emerged as a therapeutic intervention to facilitate transgenerational, psychosomatic healing. By integrating a human-centered approach with systems thinking, Family Constellations reveals subtle, impactful dynamics embedded in an individual’s family system, often rooted in past generational patterns offering a new and fuller perspective.

This work examines how FC draws its conceptual foundations from epigenetics to contribute to its unique, interdisciplinary framework. Current empirical evidence remains preliminary, and more rigorous methodologies are necessary to establish it as an empirically validated method. Future research should prioritize methodologically rigorous study designs that investigate the intervention within real-world contexts, evaluate its effects across transgenerational populations, and systematically examine the spiritual dimensions of this therapeutic approach. This study also examines the global adoption of FC, alongside critical perspectives to offer an understanding of its benefits and limitations.

Keywords: Family Constellations, Bert Hellinger, Family Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Psychodrama, Phenomenology, Western Esotericism, Embodied cognition, Spirituality in therapy, Spiritual psychology