It puts your own depression or anxiety into better context when you realize that your grand father, aunt and several cousins deal with the same problems, for instance. Patterns of illness and addiction, or particular temperaments that have been transmitted through the generations tend to leap out at you. When properly constructed, the genogram presents your family's psychological history in a single graphic image, making it easy to visualize how your family's history (your cultural history writ small) has affected your personal history. Dates of important events (births, marriages, divorces, deaths) are indicated, and when possible, the cause of death is recorded. Ex-spouses and deceased family members are all represented, but with their symbol crossed out (to indicate their death). Solid lines are used to connect currently existing marriages, while broken lines are used to connect former marriages. If your great-grandfather was known for having a quick temper and an anger problem, you'd note this next to his symbol).įamilies change over time as members are married, divorced and widowed, and as they are born or die. Psychological information is appended to each symbol to indicate what is known about that family member's mental and medical history (so, for instance, if your grandmother was alcoholic, you'd write that down next to her symbol on the genogram. Lines connect spouses, and parents to children. Each family member is represented by their own symbol (males by squares, females by circles), and lines are drawn between each family member to indicate their relationship with the other family members represented. going back several generations as you have information. You construct a genogram by using symbols to represent your parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, grand parents, etc. A genogram is nothing more and nothing less than a psychologically informed family tree. Another method for changing your perspective on the past is to draw yourself a genogram.
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