Article previously published in , the largest online platform for training psychotherapeutic skills in Spanish.
The use of genograms in systemic therapy is a very useful and common tool. The most important value of the genogram is the visual impact it has, since it allows us to identify at a glance the roles and interaction patterns of a certain family system that can include several generations. Another very important advantage is the fact that it is a tool that we can use when we work with children or adolescents who are reluctant to get involved in the intervention, being able to become a facilitator to talk about the family, initially at the most structural level to go deeper to a more level. relational.
In many situations, starting to talk about who is who in the family is easier than talking about who does what to whom and how different family members feel when this happens.
The genogram allows us to know the family in more depth.
The genogram consists of a graphic representation, where information from three generations of the family with which we are working is collected. Both demographic and relational information is included.
The genogram allows us to know the family more deeply, both those who attend therapy and those who are talked about during it, but are not connected with the rest. All of this also allows us to make hypotheses about the relationship between the problem and the family context, the evolution of the problem over time, its relationship with the life cycle of the family, etc.
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The drawing of the genogram has a therapeutic function in itself and is not merely a diagnostic test or information collection test. We can understand the genogram as a means to share information with the rest of the family members, it allows us to help different patients. In some cases, it even helps us get family members who remain more distant to get involved and collaborate by sharing information, seeing this as the safest way to talk about their family and themselves. In some cases, just the simple fact of observing the genogram already gives us a vision of those relational patterns that are repeated from generation to generation, becoming conscious and becoming a first step to be able to make changes.
The representation of the genogram is usually done during the first sessions, since it allows us to have a clearer framework from which to begin to intervene and make working hypotheses.
Regarding the drawing of the genogram, its construction is made up of three successive phases: drawing of the family structure; collection of basic information about the family; and delineation of family relationships. The first representation consists of drawing the figures (e.g. square, circle) that symbolize each member of the family and the lines that unite them that determine the type of relationship established between them. Male members are represented with squares and female members with circles. In addition, a dotted line is used to indicate the coexistence of the different members, including in the same circle those people who live sharing a house.
In more detail, this would be the process of creating the genogram:
First, the structure of the genogram is drawn: people who make up the family, blood and legal ties between them and the most important dates (birth, death, marriage, separation, etc.).
Secondly, the most relevant functional information is incorporated: psychological, medical and general functioning data that are important (physical or mental illnesses, striking events, striking successes or failures…).
The most significant relationships between the members are traced (alliances, conflicts, emotional breakdown…). Pointing out with various symbols the most significant ones (which are better or worse).
Finally, those data that cannot be represented graphically because they require further explanation are indicated on a separate sheet (important family events, striking conflicts and reasons for them, etc.) and family history data that allow contextualizing and understanding that family specifically.
The most significant relationships between members are drawn
Finally, and based on the information that has been recorded both in the graph and in the data sheets, the most significant family characteristics are collected, the resources or abilities that that family has and the possible difficulties that it may have as a family or with respect to to a particular member.
When preparing the genogram, we have the option of pencil and paper, drawing it together with the family or one of its members and completing it little by little as the sessions progress. It could be very interesting to gather information from different family members, as this will increase reliability and provide the possibility of comparing perspectives and observing live interactions. We assume that it is possible for family members to tell stories of the same events in completely different ways.
On the other hand, we can also , which offers a practical solution to creating family trees and genograms. The program can display a complete graphical representation of a family tree, making it easier to study the individuals in a family.
Personally, I am inclined to do a freehand genogram with family members and then do it on the computer and include information if necessary.
An example of how a genogram would look with this GenoPro would be the following:
Bibliography:
McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R. (1987). Genogram in Family Evaluation. Buenos Aires, Gedisa