FAMILY GENOGRAM: 9 STEPS TO DO YOURS - ARTE - 2025

A family genogram is a tool similar to a family tree that is used to study the ties of a person and their closest relatives. Although they can be done in many ways, they typically include information on items such as the demographics of members of at least three generations.

Family genograms are commonly used in contexts such as psychology or pedagogy. In these areas, they serve to understand a person's environment and how it affects them. In addition, they also allow detecting certain patterns that may be causing problems or that explain specific situations.

Genogram example

Thus, family genograms are very useful to help a professional to detect the origin of certain conflicts and behavior patterns that have their origin in a person's family. They can also be used to find the causes of emotional problems, personality traits or ways of thinking.

Although normally this tool is used especially in contexts related to mental health, making a family genogram is not very complicated if you have the right tools for it.

What is a genogram?

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A good family genogram differs from other similar tools, such as a family tree, in the type of data it contains. Thus, it not only includes a scheme in which the individual's family structure is collected; Relevant data about its members and the relationships that exist between them are also incorporated.

In this way, there are three components that make up a family genogram: the structure, the individual data, and the relationships between people. We will study each of them in depth below.

Familiar structure

The first component of a family genogram is a diagram showing the relationships between the individual's family members, including at least three generations. Although this element is not the most important for the clinical or pedagogical study, it is essential to be able to develop the others correctly.

At a visual level, this scheme is very similar to what we might expect from a family tree, although in this first element we find some differences. For example, there are a series of predefined symbols that allow you to indicate different types of ties, such as the relationship between parents and children or marriage.

Relevant information about family members

The second component of a genogram consists of a series of data that provides important information about the family members indicated in the first. These data may have to do with both objective data (such as the date of birth and death of individuals) and other more subjective ones.

Thus, elements such as the educational level of the people represented in the genogram, indications about their personality, important moments they have lived or data on their careers and professions would be reflected in this second element.

Facts about family relationships

Finally, the third component of a genogram has to do with the links that exist between the different members of the family. However, in this case we are not talking about blood or legal relationships, but about the type of emotional, affective and psychological bond that exists between them.

Thus, all conflicts, affections, similarities at an emotional or thought level and other similar elements that may exist within a family would be reflected in this element, which would be the most useful generally when carrying out a therapy or an intervention pedagogical.

Basic symbols of the genogram

The basic symbols of a genogram can refer to the characteristics and circumstances of each member or to their relationships.

Some of the traces that give us information on the interpersonal relationships that exist between family members are:

Relationship characteristics

The genogram can represent the type of relationship that exists between two specific family members. The coding for its reading is based on drawing lines that indicate aspects of what the relationship between two people is like. The encoding would be the following:

• If there is a close and very good relationship between the two members, two parallel lines would be drawn between them.
• Those members with a very close merged-type relationship would be joined by three parallel lines. A fused relationship is determined by a symbiosis. In this case it would be a symbiosis of interdependence.
• A dashed line between two people would indicate a distant relationship.
• A jagged line would be drawn between two people in a hostile relationship.
• A jagged line with three parallel lines shows a very close and hostile relationship. That is to say, narrow and conflictive.

Coalitions

When we speak of triangulation in the family system, we mean the coalition between two family members against another member. This type of family pattern is usually formed by a parent and their child against another parent. In the familiogram, it would be represented by uniting the three members by the geometric figure of a triangle.

Family part

The genogram includes the part of the family with which the person performing the genogram lives at the time of the consultation. It would be determined by a closed dashed line that includes those members who live with the person.

Sex

In the genogram, according to the sex of the family member, it is differentiated by 2 geometric figures:

• The circle to represent a woman
• The square to represent a man.

Deaths

Inside the geometric figure, a cross is drawn to indicate it visually.

Abortions

Depending on whether it has been spontaneous or induced, it is represented by a black colored circle or simply a cross.

Pregnancies

They are represented by a triangle.

Data

• Current age or death: it is written inside the circle or square symbol.
• Name: right next to the symbol.
• Diseases: if relevant to the system.

How to make a genogram: a practical case

Before starting, I recommend that you do it in pencil in case you want to erase something, since the first times this task is carried out, it is common to make mistakes with symbols and lines or to confuse members.

Start by drawing yourself

Since you are the one who performs the genogram, you must draw yourself with a double line that forms the square if you are a man or the circle if you are a woman.

Draw siblings

If you have brothers and / or sisters, draw them in chronological order next to you and on the same horizontal line as you. The chronological order runs from left to right, from the oldest brother to the youngest brother.

If there are twins, it is represented by forming a triangle where the members are located at the vertices of the triangle.

If there are twins, the same figure is drawn but without joining the two members.

Draw an upward vertical line from each of your siblings' symbols without forgetting to draw yours as well. If one of these brothers was not born, his line is represented in a discontinuous way.

Parents

Now draw a continuous line between them that unites them and also connects with all their children.

If they are married, on the line write the date of marriage.

Couples that are not married are joined by a dashed line, in this case the date on which they met or began to live together is indicated.

If there is more than one marriage, they will be placed in chronological order with the oldest to the left and the most recent to the right.

Grandparents

Again do the same process with your grandparents. You can perform the genogram up to the generation you want, normally it is done until the 3rd or 4th generation.

Data

Now add each member their data: age, name, diseases…

Programs to make genograms

The genogram can be done by hand or on a computer, since today there are computer programs that can help you do it virtually.

They are as follows:

The GenoPro program, you can download it from the following link: genopro.com/free

Another program that has good results when making genograms and that you can download is Smartdraw: smartdraw.com

Genogram example

In the example you have below, the genogram is performed up to the third generation. In this case, relational aspects such as triangulation and characteristic lines of relationships are not included.

References

1. "How to develop a genogram step by step" in: The Mind Is Wonderful. Retrieved on: September 23, 2019 from La Mente Es Maravillosa: lamenteesmaravillosa.com.
2. "Introduction to the genogram" in: GenoPro. Retrieved on: September 23, 2019 from GenoPro: genopro.com.
3. "Rules to build genograms" in: GenoPro. Retrieved on: September 23, 2019 from GenoPro: genopro.com.
4. "How to Create a Genogram Quickly - All You Need to Know about Genograms" in: EDraw. Retrieved on: September 23, 2019 from EDraw: edrawsoft.com.
5. "Genogram" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: September 23, 2019 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.