Running head: GENOGRAMS 1

Genograms

Name

Institution
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The term “genogram” was first used by Dr. Murray Bowen in late 1960s to mean

“family diagram”. By 1970s, Bowen Systems Therapists adopted it. The concept became

widely accepted in the field of Family Medicine, family therapy and clinical psychology

settings. In 1980, a group called North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG),

coordinated by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson, standardized the symbols of this

term, and in 1985, they made it more popular by publishing a book tittled Genograms:

Assessment and Intervention. Today, genograms are used by different groups of people in

different fields such as genetic research, psychology, medicine, education, social work, etc.

Genograms are used to visualize a client in the context of their relatives. They provide a

wealth of information on the relatives by illustrating the relationship among members of a

family tree, and how they are a product of their behaviors, patterns, time, friendships, etc

(GenoPro, 2019).

Before developing a genogram, one needs to talk to family members about their

health history. Genograms are completed using shapes which convey meaning. Squares are

used to represent males, circles are used to represent females, and triangles represent

pregnancy. A cross through any of these shapes means death. These shapes provide

information about the number of people in a family tree, and their sex. Personal information

such as names, age, date of birth, etc., can also be added. The next step is to bring together

the relationships: a dotted line represents dating, a solid line means marriage, and two strokes

means a divorce. The final step is to observe the emotional aspect of the relationships: love,

friendships, hatred, violence, hostility, mistrust, etc (Garth, 2016). For a medical genogram,

the interest is in diseases such as heart disease, asthma, high blood pressure, kidney disease,

thyroid disease, cancer, diabetes, mental illness, stroke, birth defects, and many others. Cases

of drug abuse, smoking and alcoholism are also considered (GenoPro, 2019).
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Genograms are beneficial in the sense that, they allows one to depict people and

events of great significance in the history of their family. They provide annotations about

major personality traits and medical history of each family member (McGoldrick, Gerson, &

Shellenberger, 1999). Genograms help to uncover intergenerational patterns of marriage

choices, behavior, family alliances, conflicts, family secretes, etc. This can help professionals

to build up a framework that can help explain the client’s circumstances and open the

dialogue. The most common challenge in developing a genogram is lack of the information

required, especially for people who are adopted.

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References

Garth, A. (2016, September 14). What Is a Genogram and Why Do I Need to Learn How to

Create One? Retrieved from SWHELPER:

https://www.socialworkhelper.com/2016/09/14/genogram-need-learn-create-one/

GenoPro. (2019). What is a Genogram? Retrieved from GenoPro:

https://www.genopro.com/articles/what-is-a-genogram.aspx

McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R., & Shellenberger, S. (1999). Genograms: Assessment and

Intervention. New York, United States: W.W. Norton.