Entering Inner Images - A Creative Use of Constellations in Individual Therapy, Counselling, Groups and Self-Help

1. Introduction

Dear Reader,

There is a widespread assumption among fiction writers that a reader participates in the creation of the book, and the form evolves out of a dialogue between the writer and the reader. Although that is mostly a concern of literary convention, the concept is valid in a broader sense. Anyone who has discussed a particular book with a friend is aware that for each person, what is drawn from the book or even read into the book is personal and individual.

In the case of this book, this means that by selecting the chapters that are most pertinent and intriguing to you, you can create a book to be read and used according to your particular preferences. In a comprehensive table of contents and cross-referenced text, we have attempted to create a tool that is workable from any point of entry. Those who lean towards theoretical issues, for example, could start with “The Existential Paradox” and the “Basic Foundation and Principles”. Those who are more interested in practical applications may want to look at the descriptions of the actual process, and return to the basic explanations later. Others might wish to begin with the chapter on “Neuro-Imaginative Gestalting”.

If you are one of those people, as we are, who wants to know who did what in a co-operative effort, Eva Madelung contributed the material that is primarily theoretically orientated, as well as one case study, and Barbara Innecken was responsible primarily for the explanations of process, the applications in practice, and the remaining case studies. There was, naturally, a constant dialogue between us and a reciprocal exchange of ideas and adaptation.

To spare the reader the cumbersome use of multiple pronouns to include males and females, in the discussions we have used masculine and feminine forms alternately. Any imbalance in one direction or the other is unintentional.

BERT HELLINGER’S PHENOMENOLOGICAL STANCE: A NEW DIMENSION

Bert Hellinger’s family constellations were developed as a group therapy form, and the resulting insights have found their way into individual therapy in various ways. This is understandable, since Hellinger’s phenomenological stance opens a new dimension in therapy and counselling that has a place in many different approaches.

Compared to the number of books about constellations in groups, by Hellinger himself as well as other colleagues, there has been relatively little written about the potential for this work in an individual setting (cf. Franke 2003; Schneider 1998). This does not correspond to the actual situation, since family constellations are increasingly being included in individual therapy in various forms. The approach and the procedures influence and are included in individual therapy in widely differing ways, and constellations may also be recommended as a complementary adjunct to the on-going therapy process.

NEURO-IMAGINATIVE GESTALTING AS “OPEN METHOD”

Neuro-Imaginative Gestalting (NIG), a method developed by Eva Madelung and further developed by Barbara Innecken, combines elements of NLP, brief therapy according to de Shazer, and the Heidelberg School of family therapy, with the family constellation work of Bert Hellinger, and also includes aspects of art therapy and body work. It is a method appropriate to individual therapy and counselling.

NIG is an open rather than self-contained method. Just as it evolved out of the integration of various therapeutic approaches, it may develop further through the reciprocal effects of merging with other methods, thereby stimulating therapeutic creativity. It is only one of many ways of integrating a systemic approach into individual therapy.

In order to work competently, a therapist must have adequate training in another approach to therapy or counselling, sufficient practical experience, and personal awareness and experience. Knowledge of NIG alone is not enough to do therapy or counselling. Anyone choosing to use the NIG approach for their own personal development does so at their own risk.

It is beyond the scope of this book to present the complex approaches that have influenced NIG, as these have been described in detail in other literature. Therefore, we have restricted ourselves to a skeletal presentation of the basic principles and tools in individual therapy.

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE

In order to use NIG in individual or group therapy, in counselling, or as a self-help procedure, a knowledge of NLP is helpful but not absolutely necessary, as the process and effects of working with individual aspects of NIG are described in detail. We consider an understanding of Bert Hellinger’s family constellation work important, but it is only absolutely essential as a prerequisite for the element of family constellations in NIG (see p. 86).

We have made every effort to present the background and the procedures in such a way that those trained in the areas mentioned, or in other classical or humanistic methods, can apply this material and gain their own experience and understanding. Each person can then determine whether the information is sufficient or if further training of some kind would be useful.

THE EMERGENCE OF THIS BOOK

Before we turn to the more serious contents of the book, we would like to share with you, our readers, how we found our way to this book, or, how we let ourselves be found.

Barbara Innecken: How I Came to This Book

It must have made quite a picture on a hot summer afternoon in southern Italy: A holiday house by the sea, two children playing on the beach with strict instructions not to go into the water nor into the house. Inside, the father, clad in a bathing suit, is reading aloud to the mother from a book. As the father reads, the mother is busy moving back and forth through the room with papers and pencils and a look of concentration.

What was going on? The book in this true story was Eva Madelung’s book on brief therapies, Kurztherapien. Neue Wege zur Lebensgestaltung [Brief Therapies. New Pathways to Life Gestalting], reading material suggested by Ilse Kutschera and Helmut Eichenmüller, my NLP and family constellations teachers at that time. Both of them were concerned with presenting systemic therapy in a broad context. I had packed the book in my suitcase and found time between beach and pasta to read it. I followed the presentation of the various brief therapies with interest, making a few notes and thinking a bit about it, when suddenly I was wide awake. Under the puzzling title Neuro-Imaginative Gestalting, I discovered precise instructions for an exercise that was called The Life Path (cf. p. 76). I have always found the long summer holiday, far from the obligations of everyday life, conducive to self-reflection, and this concept spoke to me immediately. I tried to read through the exercise and do it at the same time, which was only moderately successful. So I then asked my husband to lend his assistance, and he patiently accompanied me along the “life path” through an incredible amount of paper.

The Italian meeting with Neuro-Imaginative Gestalting has had a lasting effect. Later, at home, I began using the two exercises described in the brief therapy book in my peer group, in a supervision group, and in my practice. I experimented with ways of integrating them into existing treatment concepts in my psychotherapy and speech therapy practice. At that time, my methodology was based on the applications of kinesiology, systemic psychokinesiology, and, increasingly, family constellations. I quickly discovered that each session took its own particular course, which only partly followed the suggested exercises, an experience that aroused my curiosity. My colleagues, my clients, and myself all shared a similar enthusiasm for the work with NIG, and as far as I could tell in that short time, the effects were also very rewarding and often surprising.

I knew Eva Madelung from our systemic kinesiology group, and at some point I decided to contact her to find out how I could learn more about NIG. She suggested that I come into her practice and learn more NIG exercises through personal experience and supervision; an offer I was happy to accept. Eva was a calm and sensitive guide who never interfered, but also never wavered. In that setting, the personal and professional experience I developed went far beyond learning a few exercises. To give you an impression of my experience, I have described my first session in NIG, “the two trees”, in the last chapter of this book.

The end of the story is quickly told. At some point I asked Eva why she didn’t publish this practical and valuable method in a book. She said she didn’t want to write any more professional books. On the one hand, of course, I respected this position, but on the other hand, I couldn’t let go of the idea of a book about Neuro-Imaginative Gestalting. Since I had had some experience with writing myself, I cautiously asked Eva if she would consider writing this book with me. The answer to my question did not come for some months, but when it did, it was a firm yes.

The results...