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Psychogénéalogie (transgenerational psychotherapy in English) is fairly new as a field of study and work. It was founded in France by Anne Ancelin Schützenberger, a psychotherapist with a background in psychodrama and group therapy, in the 1970s. Essentially, the theory is that a trauma that occurred in a family long ago could be felt still in the descendants, causing them suffering even when they may not know of the trauma. Suffering that is untreated passes from one generation to the next. This is described at length in her book, The Ancestor Syndrome.
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At the Genco 2012 forum, psycho-généalogiste Liliane Vaschalde had a stand with leaflets. She explained her process, which is not dissimilar to that of other practitioners. It entails researching one's genealogy back, ideally, five generations and, crucially, filling in as much history and cultural understanding as possible. A génosociogramme, or genogram, is constructed, providing the framework for the therapy sessions. These sessions cover family secrets and inexplicable coincidences, such as people dying on the anniversary of an ancestor's death, or the passing of psychological traits -- such as rage -- down through the generations.
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We have neither undergone such treatment nor studied it in any depth, and so we cannot in any way vouch for it; but we can affirm that, for some, the need to understand often leads to genealogy. We have been asked on occasion to research a lineage purely because someone hoped to find an explanation for a parent's or grandparent's behaviour. In one case, we were able to locate a case file from the late nineteenth century which went a long way toward such an explanation. It would have made a psycho-généalogiste beam exultantly.
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The following videos are from a France 2 presentation on psychogénéalogie, from Dailymotion.com.
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La psychogénéalogie 1 par apocalyptique00.
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La psychogénéalogie 2 par apocalyptique00
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La psychogénéalogie 3 par apocalyptique00
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©2012 Anne Morddel
French Genealogy
Why Ann, you must come to France and study here!
Posted by: Anne | 31 October 2012 at 16:49
Thank you so much for posting this! I live in western Massachusetts and wish there were a psychogenealogist here with whom I could train.
Ann
Posted by: Ann G. Forcier | 27 October 2012 at 16:47