{{Short description|Type of extended family tree}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} A '''genogram''', also known as a family diagram,<ref name=mgstudy>{{cite journal|author1-first=W.|author1-last=Jolly|author2-first=J.|author2-last=Froom|author3-first=M. G.|author3-last=Rosen|journal=The Journal of Family Practice|year=1980|pmid=7354276|volume=10|issue=2|title=The genogram|pages=251–255}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Butler |first=J.F. |date=2008 |title=The Family Diagram and Genogram: Comparisons and Contrasts |journal=American Journal of Family Therapy |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=169–180|doi=10.1080/01926180701291055 }}</ref> is a pictorial display of a person's position and ongoing relationships in their family's hereditary hierarchy. It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to visualize social patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships, especially patterns that repeat over the generations.<ref name=":0">{{citation|author1-last=Friedman|author1-first=H.|author2-last=Rohrbaugh|author2-first=M.|author3-last=Krakauer|author3-first=S.|title=The time-line genogram: Highlighting temporal aspects of family relationships|journal=Family Process|series=27|pages=293–303|year=1988|doi=10.1111/j.1545-5300.1988.00293.x|volume=27|issue=3 |pmid=3224700 }}</ref>
==History== Georgetown Family Center Therapist Murray Bowen<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Bowen |first=Murray |title=Family Therapy in Clinical Practice |publisher=Jason Aronson |year=1978 |location=New York}}</ref> developed the concept of the genogram. At the time, he called it a "family diagram" as part of his family systems model in the 1970s. He claimed not to know where the concept of a genogram came from but nonetheless avowed that he didn't invent it.
In their 1980 book, ''The Family Life Cycle'',<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Carter |first1=B. |title=The Family Life Cycle |last2=McGoldrick |first2=M. |publisher=Gardner Press, NY |year=1980}}</ref> Betty Carter and Monica McGoldrick included genograms on the book's cover and in a page regarding the genogram format; they were copyrighted to Bowen, who had been promoting the value of genograms in family systems work. The same year, Jack Bradt, a former student of Bowen's, published a pamphlet at the Groome Center which displayed the basic symbols used for genograms.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradt |first=Jack O. |title=The family diagram: Method, technique and use in family therapy |publisher=Groome Center, Washington, D.C. |year=1980}}</ref> Genograms were later developed and popularized by McGoldrick and Randy Gerson through their 1985 book<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McGoldrick |first1=M. |title=Genograms in family assessment |last2=Gerson |first2=R |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1985 |location=New York}}</ref> titled ''Genograms in Family Assessment'', as well as the fourth edition of ''Genograms: Assessment and Treatment'', published in 2020 by McGoldrick, Gerson, and Sueli Petry.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McGoldrick |first1=M. |title=Genograms: Assessment and treatment |last2=Gerson |first2=R |last3=Petry |first3=S |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |edition=4th |location=New York}}</ref>
Since then, genograms have now been used by various groups of people in a diversity of fields; many practitioners in healthcare and mental health have come to use genograms, specifically for services that are interested in contextually understanding human behavior patterns.<ref>{{cite journal|first=R. L.|last=Beck|title=The genogram as process|journal=American Journal of Family Therapy|volume=15|issue=4|year=1987|pages=343–351|doi=10.1080/01926188708250694}}</ref> Various individuals and groups in different fields have worked together to develop a standardized genogram. In psychiatry, Bowen and Bradt, as well as Philip Guerin, Brian Stagoll, and Karl Tomm have been credited.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stagoll |first1=Brian |last2=Lang |first2=Moshe |date=1 July 1980 |title=Climbing the Family Tree: Working with Genograms |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1467-8438.1980.tb00022.x/abstract |journal=Australian Journal of Family Therapy |language=en |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=161–170 |doi=10.1002/j.1467-8438.1980.tb00022.x |issn=1467-8438|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradt |first=Jack |title=The Family Diagram: Method, Technique and Uses in Family Therapy |publisher=Groome Center |year=1980 |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> In psychology, Gerson and Petry, as well as Michael Rohrbaugh and Eliana Gil have been credited.<ref name=":0" /><ref>E. Gil, M. McGoldrick, & S. Petry (2020). Family Play Genograms. In McGoldrick, Gerson & Petry, Genograms: Assessment and Treatment, 4th Ed. W. W. Norton, New York. </ref><ref>Petry, S.S. & McGoldrick, M. (2005). Genograms in Assessment and Therapy. In G.P.Koocher, J.C.Norcross & S.S. Hill (Eds). The Psychologist's Desk Reference, 2nd Edition, New York: Oxford University Press. </ref> In social work, Carter and McGoldrick, as well as Ann Hartman and Elaine Pinderhughes have been credited.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGoldrick |first=Monica |title=The Genogram Casebook: A Clinical Companion to Genograms: Assessment and Intervention |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=2016 |location=New York}}</ref><ref>Pinderhughes, E. (2019). Black genealogy revisited: Restorying an African American family. In M. McGoldrick (Ed.), ''Re-visioning family therapy: Race, culture, and gender in clinical practice.'' New York: Guilford.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hartman |first=Ann |date=1995 |title=Diagrammatic assessment of family relationships |journal=Families in Society |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=111–122 |doi=10.1177/104438949507600207}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> In family medicine, Jack Medalie, Jack Froom, John Rodgers, and Michael Crouch have been credited.<ref>Medalie, J.H. (1978). Family History, Database, Family Tree, and Family Diagnosis, in J. H. Medalie (ed). Family Medicine: Principles and Applications (pp 329-336), Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. </ref><ref>Crouch, M (2020). Genograms in Medical or Psychiatric Practice. in M McGoldrick, R. Gerson & S. Petry: Genograms Assessment and Treatment, 4th Ed. W. W. Norton: New York.</ref><ref>Crouch, M. & Davis, T. (1987). Using the genogram (family tree) clinically. In M. Crouch & L. Roberts (Eds.), ''The family in medical practice: A family systems primer.'' New York: Springer-Verlag. </ref><ref>Rohrbaugh, M., Rogers, J.C., & McGoldrick, M. (1992). How do experts read family genograms? ''Family Systems Medicine, 10(''1), 79-89. </ref><ref>Rogers, J., C., & Rohrbaugh, M. (1991). The SAGE-PAGE trial: Do family genograms make a difference? ''Journal of the American Board of Family Practice, 4''(5), 319-326.</ref><ref>Rogers, J.C., Rohrbaugh, M., & McGoldrick, M. (1992). Can experts predict health risk from family genograms? ''Family Medicine, 24''(3), 209-215. </ref>
== Applications == Genograms are used across multiple disciplines to assess family dynamics, health patterns, and relational structures.
=== Family therapy === In family therapy and marriage and family therapy (MFT), genograms serve as a core assessment tool. Therapists use them to identify multigenerational patterns of behavior, emotional functioning, and relationship dynamics.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McGoldrick |first1=M. |title=Genograms: Assessment and treatment |last2=Gerson |first2=R |last3=Petry |first3=S |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |edition=4th |year=2020 |location=New York}}</ref> They help clinicians and families visualize patterns such as triangulation, emotional cutoff, and the multigenerational transmission of anxiety, as described in Bowen's family systems theory.<ref name=":1" />
=== Medicine and nursing === In primary care and family medicine, genograms are used to collect family medical histories and identify hereditary risk factors. Studies have shown that genograms can capture more complete family health information than standard questionnaires.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rogers |first1=J.C. |last2=Rohrbaugh |first2=M. |last3=McGoldrick |first3=M. |date=1992 |title=Can experts predict health risk from family genograms? |journal=Family Medicine |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=209–215}}</ref> In genetic counseling, genograms (often called pedigree charts in that context) help assess hereditary cancer risk and other genetic conditions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Daugherty |first1=C.K. |last2=Fitzsimmons |first2=S. |last3=Murdock |first3=D. |last4=Fink |first4=K. |date=1998 |title=Evaluating knowledge of breast cancer genetics and genetic counselling using a genogram pedigree |journal=Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics |volume=106 |pages=60}}</ref> The World Health Organization has also recognised the genogram as a tool for understanding family health in diverse cultural contexts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Watts |first1=C. |last2=Shrader |first2=E. |date=1998 |title=How to do (or not to do)... The genogram: a new research tool to document patterns of decision-making, conflict and vulnerability within households |journal=Health Policy and Planning |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=459–464}}</ref>
=== Social work === Social workers use genograms alongside eco-maps for comprehensive family assessment in case management, child welfare, and community practice. Hartman (1995) advocated for the systematic use of diagrammatic tools including genograms in social work assessment to understand family relationships and resources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hartman |first=Ann |date=1995 |title=Diagrammatic assessment of family relationships |journal=Families in Society |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=111–122 |doi=10.1177/104438949507600207}}</ref>
=== Education and training === Genograms are widely used in clinical training programs for therapists, counselors, social workers, and medical residents. Students construct their own family genograms as a self-of-the-therapist exercise to develop self-awareness about how their family-of-origin patterns might affect their clinical work.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shellenberger |first1=S. |last2=Dent |first2=M. M. |last3=Davis-Smith |first3=M. |last4=Seale |first4=J. P. |last5=Weintraut |first5=R. |last6=Wright |first6=T. |date=2007 |title=A cultural genogram: A tool for teaching and practice |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=367–381}}</ref>'
== Symbols == thumb|upright=2|Basic genogram symbolsA genogram is created with simple symbols representing gender and various lines to illustrate family relationships. Genogram symbols typically include date of birth and date of death over three or more generations, with the name of the individual underneath each one; current age and/or age at death are indicated within the symbol for each person.
A genogram can contain a wealth of information on the families represented. It shows not merely the individuals within a family lineage but also detailed information about them and between them. For example, in a genogram involving a father named Paul and a wife named Lily with three children, the diagram can depict relationships such as their eldest child going to boarding school, their middle child having conflict with her mother, and their youngest having a health condition like juvenile diabetes. It can also show descriptions like Paul's mental health records or Lily's employment history.
== Software == Several software applications have been developed specifically for creating digital genograms. Early genogram software such as GenoPro (1998) provided desktop-based tools for constructing genograms with standardized symbols.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.genopro.com/genogram/ |title=Introduction to the Genogram |website=GenoPro |access-date=2026-01-29}}</ref> General-purpose diagramming platforms also offer genogram templates, though with more limited clinical symbol libraries compared to dedicated genogram software.
== See also == *Ahnentafel *Cousin chart (table of consanguinity) *Eco-map *Consanguinity#Genetic definitions (for general genetic similarity) *Genealogical numbering systems *Pedigree chart == References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Charts Category:Psychological tests and scales Category:Family therapy