Franz Ruppert

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Trauma and symbiotic Entanglement
How constellations can help
www.franz-ruppert.de
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Classification of mental illness

• anxiety
• depression
• personality disorders
• schizophrenia and psychosis

hyperarousal or numbness
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Our primitive reactions for dealing with our
suffering are

• denying the symptoms
• focusing directly on the symptoms
• trying to eliminate the symptoms
• consuming something to cure the symptoms (eating,
  drinking, smoking ...)

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The alternative to struggling with the symptoms
is to understand their causes and roots.
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My basic assumptionThe background of mental
illnessin most cases is trauma and/or the
entangelement with traumatized people.
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A trauma is

• ... a vital experience of discrepancy between
  threatening situational factors and the
  individuals coping capacities, that is
  associated with feelings of helplessness and
  lack of any protection, thus creating a permanent
  instability of the self-concept and perception of
  the world.

(Fischer und Riedesser, 1999, S. 79)
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Two classical types of trauma

• caused by life threatening events (e.g. war,
  accidents, rape, natural catastrophies)
• caused by loss of a person (e.g. early death of
  parents, loss of children, adoption)

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Stress meansfight or flight.
Important distinction
Trauma meansfreeze or fragment.
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Trauma-Scheme(van der Kolk 2000, S. 175)

• hyperarousal, being overwhelmed by panic, rage
  and pain
• avoidance behavior
• numbing
• attempts to overcome numbing

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Split in the personality structure after a
traumatic experience
traumatized part
surviving part
healthy part
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Characteristics of the healthy part of our
personality

• capable of regulating feelings
• genuine empathy
• ability to make safe bonds
• Ability to resolve bonds if necessary
• Capacity for self-reflection

• self-responsibility
• love of truth
• realism
• optimism and basic confidence
• strong enough to confront traumatic experiences

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Characteristics ofthe traumatised part

• stores the memory of the trauma
• is always the same age as the person was when the
  trauma occurred
• is still engaged with the traumatic experience
• can be triggered unpredictably and suddenly

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Surviving part protects the organism and the soul
and helps survival of a traumatic experience.
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Characteristics ofthe surviving-part

• constructing and guarding the split
• denying and suppressing the trauma experience
• avoiding
• controlling
• compensating
• producing illusions
• producing new splits

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Surviving part isa mirrorof the traumatised
part.The more extreme the trauma experience,
the more extreme the development of the
personality structures that help survival.
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In the long run the surviving part increases the
risk of suffering another trauma.
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The symbiotic entanglement with traumatized
people produces two new types of trauma

• Trauma of bonding (being rejected by the person
  one needs to bond to)
• Trauma of confusion in a bonding system (caused
  by murder, sexual abuse, incestuous relations)

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• For children safe bonding (J. Bowlby) to their
  parents is fundamental for self confidence,
  confidence in human relations and mental health.

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Reactions to the loss of a bonding figure

• 1. fear and panic
• 2. protest and rage
• 3. grief and resignation

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• Synbiotically every child is doulbe bonded to her
  mother
• passively the emotional qualities of the mother
  are an imprint in the childs soul
• actively the child tries to support the mother
  and helps her to survive, espacially if the
  mother is traumatized.

The childs symbiotic love of a child towards her
mother is the most powerful emotional force.
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Transgenerational aspects of trauma

• Traumatisation destroys the bonding capability of
  parents.
• The contact with a child triggers the parents
  traumatized part or activates their surviving
  part.
• In his symbiotic state the child cannot
  distinguish between his own identity and the
  trauma of his parents.

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Mental illnesses in many cases are bonding
disorders.
The splits in the personality structure of
parents perpetuate in the personality structure
of their children.
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Trauma of bonding part 1
grief
pain
Traumatized Parts of the child
shame
anxiety
rage
feeling guilty
symbiotic love
symbiotic surviving part of the child
adaption to mother compassion for her
Traumatized part of the mother
Mothers surviving part
healthy part
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Trauma of bonding part 2
Childs traumatized parts
anxiety, rage, pain, grief, love, shame, guilt
symbiotic Surviving part
Traumatized part after sexual abuse
compassion with the father
Split of the father
pain, disgust, shame
healthy part
Surviving part after sexual abuse
idealising the father
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Principles of my psychotherapy as applied in
constellations

• Focusing on trauma and bonding processes
• Having a multigenerational perspective
• Acknowledging the surival mechanisms
• Strenghening the healthy part
• to help in confronting their own traumata
• Leading the symbiotic parts out of the
  entanglement

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Constellations work needs

• Trust in a group of people
• Confidence in ones own healthy part
• Trust in the facilitator