A review of « Aïe, mes aïeux », Anne Ancelin Schutzenberger
By Chauvin Chloé, Dahéron Mélissa and Guichard Louise
What is it about ?
In this book, Anne Ancelin Schützenberger talks about her professional experience as a psychologist. She shows us, through this book, transgenerational therapy. The concept behind this therapy is that we are but a link in the generational chain, and that heredity isn’t limited to physical attributes. We also receive the emotional memory of our ancestors – and those can be heavy heritages.
Indeed, we sometime have to, quite curiously, have to pay the debt of our ancestors’ past. It is sort of a « invisible loyalty » that forces us to repeat, whether we want it or not, whether we are aware of it or not, pleasant situations or painful events. We’re not as free as we think we are, but we have the possibility to conquer our freedom and to avoid repeating history by understand the complex links that forms our familial fabric. « To make our life the expression of our deep selves, that is, at bottom, what psychotherapy and formation is meant to do. » p.14
What are the theoretical inputs ?
Generality concerning transgenerationality
The concept of transgenerationality was developed by Anne Ancelin Schützenberger during the 70’s. However this idea preexisted in Freud’s work in the concept of « collective soul » which was the idea that a feeling could go from a generation to another with the people involved knowing it. Jung preferred the term « collective unconscious » . More recently Moreno, one of the father of genosociogram and transgenerationality, proposed «familial and groupal co-conscious and co-unconscious ».
The transgenerational approach predicate that unresolved issues (treason, vengeance..), untold secrets, premature deaths etc… pass from generation to generation, manifesting itself under date coincidence, names chosen for the children, profession choices… according to the idea that nothing is random. Freud said in « Interpretation of Dreams » (1900) that « Their names makes the children into phantoms ».
While in therapy with a patient we thus work with verbal and non-verbal communication : the expressed, the lapses, the forgotten, the ruptures, the « fractures of the soul », the synchronies, the birth/death/marriage/accident dates coincidence, the separations, exams failures, diseases etc.…
The unexpected return of elements that should have been repressed or overcame long ago makes the therapist feel the « Uncanny » = the patient doesn’t have his own personality but struggle with the influence of previous generations.
Genosociogram
Anne Ancelin Schützenberger teaches us what is a genosociogram, its interest and how to do it. Massively used in transgenerational therapy, it is a family tree in which there are five to seven generations, including important dates (marriages, birth, death, uprooting…), important facts about the family’s history (Study levels, professions, separations, remarriages, diseases, accidents, moving, traumas, blaze, catastrophe, premature deaths) and the affective links in-between persons. The genosociogram points out traumas underwent by someone. We cannot understand someone if we ignore where he is from, what familial, socio-economic and cultural traumas he went through.
It is a tool proposed by Moreno in 1933. It is realized in « the here and the now », during the patient’s therapy, that way he’ll be able to commentate the genosociogram meanwhile. Observing what’s changing in a subject, his breathing etc. while constructing the genogram makes it a tremendously useful tool to obtain info that are no accessible to the conscious and thus non verbalizable by the patient. To illustrate that, Anne Ancelin Schützenberger uses a lot of examples and schemes that makes her work all the more richer.
Boszormenyi-Nagy’s inputs on the subject
A psychiatrist during the 90’s, trained to psychogenealogy and familial therapy, Boszormenyi-Nagy states that the notion of « loyalty » is central to intra-familial links. Members of the system expect everyone’s loyalty towards the group. He also says that, in case a member shows disloyalty towards the system, then events such as accidents, break-ups, diseases appears.
To all of this, he adds the idea of « familial debt » in « the family general ledger ». Thus, every system member has debts, obligations, credits towards the system and if there are imbalances or injustices, then issues from generations to generations appear.
For instance : The child has multiples debts towards his parents for they have given him life, love, care, education and so on… and he honors his debt by becoming a parent as well and giving his child what he himself received. That is a transgenerational way of honoring the familial debt.
There is then a balance between what is taken and what is given and it helps avoiding a dysfunction in future generations. In a familial system where the counting is blocked, thus repetitive or delayed, neurosis and other symptoms tends to settle through generations.
Why have we chosen this book ?
We have chosen this book to raise awareness about systemic approach in the psychological students group, and more specifically the transgenerational approach. Indeed, in the University course, there is but a few theoretical elements concerning this subject and we thought it would be interesting to develop a reasoning that is not focused only on the patient but also on his relatives. Life events, links between family members, ancestors’ history are added elements allowing a better understanding a patient’s troubles. The idea being that a sick subject is the symptom of a dysfunction in the entire familial system.
Beyond these theoretical elements and practical tools the book gives us on the transgenerational approach, it also makes us reflect on ourselves. Indeed as aspiring psychologist, it is important to know ourselves thoroughly and to realize what is ours and what belongs to our heritage. By keeping in mind the power of intergenerational transmission, we can learn to be aware of certain situations, and thus preventing these from impacting future generations.
