We are all links in a chain of generations, and sometimes we have to, to our own surprise, “pay off the debts” of our ancestors’ past. This kind of “invisible devotion to family” pushes us to unconsciously repeat pleasant situations or sad events. We are less free than we think, but we have the opportunity to win our freedom and avoid fatal repetitions in our family history by understanding the complex intricacies in our own family.

This book went through 15 editions in France. It is the result of twenty years of scientific activity and clinical practice of Anne Anseline Schutzenberger. The cases that she cites, in terms of drama, “emotional degree” and mystery, surpass the wildest fantasies of the authors of Gothic novels. Sometimes they shock, sometimes they pierce with acute pain and always remind us that each of us is part of a common history and that even the most distant events are much closer to an individual than one might imagine.

Research and therapeutic aspect of the book presents the rationale for those phenomena that the author works with using his method - transgenerational psychogenealogical contextual therapy. One of its main “tools” - genosociograms - allows you to unravel a complex tangle of family stories, identify connections between generations and break the chain of unconscious repetitions so that a person can realize his own purpose and take advantage of his chance in life.