**Systemic laterality** is a convention used by many Constellation facilitators —documented by authors such as Joan Garriga, Brigitte Champetier, and Bertold Ulsamer— that assigns symbolic meaning to the left and right sides of the client (or a representative) in the Constellation space.
**Predominant convention** (not absolute):
**Client's left side**: maternal, feminine, past, unconscious, receptive dimension. The mother and maternal lineage tend to be placed here.
**Client's right side**: paternal, masculine, future, conscious, action-oriented dimension. The father and paternal lineage tend to be placed here.
**Possible bases**: Systemic laterality resonates with (1) neurological findings on hemispheric lateralization —right hemisphere related to affect, early bonding, symbolic maternal (managed by the body's left hemisphere); left hemisphere with reason, language, symbolic paternal—; (2) ancient cultural symbolic traditions —in many cultures, left is 'feminine-receptive,' right is 'masculine-active'—.
**Important caveat**: It is NOT an absolute rule. Some Constellation facilitators work by inverting or without this convention. What matters is internal coherence in each session and the reading of how the field moves, not the imposition of rigid patterns.
**Clinical diagnosis**: When a client spontaneously chooses to place the mother on the right side and the father on the left, this inversion often reveals something systemic —mother with a paternal function, father with a maternal function, or inversion of parental roles—. It is information, not an error.
Clinical Example
A woman, when setting up her Constellation, places her mother on the right side (symbolic paternal) and her father on the left side (symbolic maternal). The Constellation facilitator reads the inversion: the mother was probably the protective-provider figure of the home, and the father was the emotional-bonding figure, inverting traditional roles. This information guides subsequent work.
Illustrative case, anonymized and composed from frequent patterns in Family Constellation sessions.
Evidence and Contemporary Voices
The concept of 'systemic laterality' does not appear in peer-reviewed academic literature on systemic psychology or family therapy as an empirically validated construct. Within the framework of Bert Hellinger's Family Constellations, it is an unsystematized symbolic convention, derived from phenomenological observations during group workshops, without controlled studies to support it (Nogueras, 2023; Fundación PSIF, 2023). Researchers in systemic family therapy, such as Salvador Minuchin or Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, do not refer to left/right laterality in their models of relational dynamics or invisible loyalties. In transgenerational trauma, authors like Anne Schützenberger (1998) describe 'ghost loyalties' without assigning specific spatial directions. There are no randomized clinical trials or meta-analyses evaluating its diagnostic or therapeutic utility in institutions such as the American Psychological Association or the European Family Therapy Association.
Researchers and References
- Bert Hellinger — Founder of Family Constellations — Creator of phenomenological conventions such as laterality in workshops
- Anne Ancelin Schützenberger — University Paris VII — Psychodrama and transgenerational, with no reference to laterality
Auditable Sources
Notes & Open Discussions
Systemic laterality lacks empirical basis and is classified as a suggestive element within pseudotherapies, without inter-observer validity or replicability; critics like Ramón Nogueras (2023) associate it with shamanic techniques and unscientific Jungian psychoanalysis, with a risk of confirmation bias in non-standardized group sessions.
Additional research generated by consulting academic sources (Perplexity Sonar Pro). Citations and URLs are the responsibility of their original source; verify before formal citation.
Bibliography
- Living in the Soul — Joan Garriga. Rigden Edaf, 2006.
- Family Constellations: Order, Hierarchy, Balance — Brigitte Champetier de Ríos. Editorial Grupo Cero, 2005.
- Family Constellations — A New Way to Face Life — Bertold Ulsamer. Sirio, 2007.
These books are in the reference library that nurtures Constelando el Origen.
Related terms
Spatial position in the constellation
How representatives are distributed in the room's space reveals the system's dynamics. Distances, directions, front/back, heights are documented systemic language.
See entryMaternal lineage (matrilineal)
A line of experiential and biological transmission that goes from woman to woman: the client, her mother, her maternal grandmother, and further back. The mitochondrial "memory of three women".
View detailsPaternal lineage (patrilineal)
Line of transmission that goes from man to man: the male client, his father, his paternal grandfather. For women: the father, the paternal grandfather, and all males on the paternal side.
View detailsInternal Image (Imago)
Hellingerian concept: unconscious representation that each member carries of the entire family system. Its reordering in the constellation produces the real therapeutic change.
View detailsA session that names what hurts
If you recognize this dynamic in your own history, a Family Constellation can reveal where it comes from and what movement brings it into order. Daniela respectfully accompanies each case.
Sessions in Spanish only