Genograms in Psychotherapy
A genogram, sometimes called a family map, is a pictorial display of a patient's family relationships and medical history. It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. It can be used to identify repetitive patterns of behavior and to recognize hereditary tendencies.
Genograms were first developed and popularized in therapuetic settings by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson through their book titled Genograms: Assessment and Intervention in 1985. Genograms are now used by various groups of people in a variety of fields such as psychiatry, psychology, genealogy, and medicine. Some therapists in individual, couples and family therapy use genograms for personal records and to explain family dynamics to their client.
Genogram Symbols
A genogram is created with different symbols representing the gender,
with various lines to illustrate family relationships.
Some genogram users also put circles around members who live in the
same living spaces. Genograms can be prepared by using a complex word
processor,
or a computer drawing program. There are also computer programs that
are custom designed for genograms.
Genogram symbols will usually have the date of birth (and date of death
if applicable) above, and the name of the individual underneath. The
inside of
the symbol will hold the person’s current age or various codes for
genetic diseases or user-defined properties, such as abortions and
still-births.
Genogram Content
A genogram can contain a wealth of information on the families
represented. It shows not only the names of people who belong to your
family
lineage, but how these relatives relate to each other. For example, a
genogram will not only tell you that your uncle John and his wife Jill
have
two children, but that their eldest child is in college, that their
youngest child is always in conflict with her sister, that John
suffers from depression, and Jill has a history of breast cancer in her
family.
Relationships
One of the advantages of a genogram is the ability to use color-coded
lines to define different types of relationships such as family
relationships,
emotional relationships and social relationships. Within family
relationships, you can illustrate if a couple is married, divorced,
common-law,
engaged, etc. Genograms usually also include emotional relationships.
These provide an in-depth analysis of how individuals relate to one
another.
Another component of genograms is social relationships. These allow
users to link individuals who are not related to one another, but who
have a connection in society-at-large, such as neighbor, co-worker,
boss-employee, pastor-church member, teacher-student, etc.
The Purpose of the Genogram
In therapy, genograms are used to gather objective and consistent
information from the clients and their family, helping them to view the
client’s
issues in the larger context of their marital relationship, family
relationships and culture of origin and underlining key issues to
discuss in
client counseling. Genograms portray emotional relationships, which
allow psychologists to see and evaluate possible conflicts within the
family.
6 Comments
Jack J. wrote on 01/07/13 6:31 AM
As a therapist, the genogram is one of the most useful and insightful tools that I have ever used in my 40 years of practice. I have found in particularly helpful when clients are not very talkative or when we are at a place where we need a little push in the right direction.
Jude wrote on 01/09/13 8:40 PM
Genograms are often created or sought out by individuals who are interested in their family history. They have many benefits over typical family trees, which only show the links between generations of family members. Genograms are much more detailed than family trees and show not only the names of family members, but also how the members interacted. They include details such as illnesses, marriages, divorces, personality traits and occupations of family members.
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Monica wrote on 01/30/13 10:57 AM
I am a psychologist like you and I ,too, use genograms in therapy. I found an interesting website that has genogram software. The site is genopro.com and the software is called Genopro. It looks very interesting and i am thinking about purchasing. If I do, I will report back!
J. R. wrote on 02/13/13 10:44 AM
I have been in therapy off and on for over 30 years and I cannot even count how many therapists I have seen over that time. It has been a lot. Anyway, only recently did I have a therapist draw a genogram with me and I cannot begin to tell you how enlightening it was.
Judi wrote on 01/02/13 4:29 AM
I have been in therapy now for about 10 years with the same therapist. She has helped me a lot, recommended many great books, and had me do numerous exercises. Of all the work we have done together, I found the genogram to be one of the best tools for learning about my family dynamics. For some reason, I found it easier to face some of the troubling aspects of my family when doing the genogram, then I did in the talk part of therapy.