I give suggestions here from the interplay of constellations and trauma therapy. When I talk about trauma therapy, I refer to the "Somatic Experiencing" (SE) developed by Peter Levine.
If you want to work with trauma patients on their trauma in a well-founded way, you should do a training in trauma therapy. This book does not serve that purpose! In the book I deal with questions and topics like
- What are different focuses of constellations and trauma therapy?
- What is the fundamental difference between personal and transgenerational trauma?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of a broad concept of trauma (e.g., according to Ruppert)?
- Are we all traumatized?
- Is trauma therapy only for traumatized people?
- What is dissociation?
- What special forms of constellations are there for trauma?
- What background is needed to constellate trauma responsibly?
- What heals trauma on the human level?
- What do constellations teach about survivor guilt?
- How can secondary traumatization be explained and how do I protect myself from it?
And I close with the constellation of a traumatized horse. I started constellating families in 1995. Then in 2002 I encountered Somatic Experiencing by Peter Levine in Switzerland. This was another breakthrough and helped me personally on a new dimension to arrive more in life.
From the beginning, it was exciting for me to see how the two methods cross-fertilize and complement each other. I had already experienced this myself. But what does this mean for me as a therapist in my practical work?
After my SE training, I started to offer additional trainings for constellation practitioners on how to deal with trauma. In Italy, I offered several 16-day courses for constellations over eight years. In China, I encountered many intense traumas during the twelve years I worked there. Intensive was a 7-day training in Mexico on constellations, trauma and violence, in which participants from several countries in South America worked on their experiences of violence.
All of these experiences come together here in this book.