Figure 3 illustrates the symbols commonly used for family relationships. Within family relationships, you can illustrate if a couple is married, divorced, common-law, engaged, etc. One of the advantages of a genogram is the ability to use colour-coded lines to define different types of relationships such as family relationships, emotional relationships and social relationships. ![]() For example, a genogram will not only tell you that your uncle Paul and his wife Lily have three children, but that their eldest child was sent to boarding school, that their middle child is always in conflict with her mother, that their youngest has juvenile diabetes, that Uncle Paul suffered from depression, was an alcoholic, and a philosopher, while Aunt Lily has not spoken to her brother for years, has breast cancer and has a history of quitting her jobs. It will not only show you the names of people who belong to your family lineage, but how these relatives relate to each other. The inside of the symbol will hold the person’s current age or various codes for genetic diseases or user-defined properties: abortions, still-births, SIDS, cohabitations, etc.Ī genogram can contain a wealth of information on the families represented. Genogram symbols will usually have the date of birth (and date of death if applicable) above, and the name of the individual underneath. There are also computer programs that are custom designed for genograms. Genograms can be prepared by using a complex word processor, or a computer drawing program. Some genogram users also put circles around members who live in the same living spaces. Figure 1 illustrates basic genogram symbols with various types of individuals. Few if any genealogists yet use them.Ī genogram is created with simple symbols representing the gender, with various lines to illustrate family relationships. Some practitioners in personal and family therapy use genograms for personal records and/ or to explain family dynamics to the client. Genograms are now used by various groups of people in a variety of fields such as genealogy, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, social work, genetic research, education, and many more. Genograms were first developed and popularized in clinical settings by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson through the publication of a book titled Genograms: Assessment and Intervention in 1985. It can be used to identify repetitive patterns of behavior and to recognize hereditary tendencies. ![]() It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. The connector lines and shapes can also tell who is living and who has passed away, if people are married or simply living together and more.A genogram is a pictorial display of a patient's family relationships and medical history. This is done by specific symbols and connectors, telling the viewer if a child was miscarried, if there was an abortion, if there are twins, if someone is adopted, etc. Unlike family trees, however, genograms contain additional information including the way people are related. The most basic layer of the genogram contains the family members and the way each person is related to the rest. While in some genograms all layers co-exist, sometimes diagrams are drawn separately for each of the above-mentioned purposes. The third layer adds additional clarity of the emotional bonds and relationships, including who was in love with whom, who is obsessed by someone else, who is abusive mentally and/or physically, etc. The second layer usually contains information on diseases such as heart condition, diabetes, etc. ![]() The first layer describes the basic information related to the people in the family - marriage, divorce, children, etc. The main task of genograms is to visualize the relationships between the members within a family on a very deep level, as well as the genetic diseases which may be transferred from/to a family member.ĭespite that genograms are not strictly categorized on different types, most of them contain three layers. Although they are used to describe families and blood relatives connections, genograms greatly differ in look and purpose from the family tree diagrams. Genograms are amongst the youngest members of the diagramming family, with a starting use in 1985.
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