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Genogram legend symbols3/31/2024 Recently Added Updates to this Genogram Key: Once aware, we can become empowered to make more informed decisions about our own behaviors. (The field of intergenerational trauma seeks to understand these links in psychology and genealogy.) The genogram is a helpful tool to help us notice patterns. In America, we are especially individualistic and often forget how influenced we are both explicitly and implicitly by our ancestors. It can even be used to track seemingly random events through generations, like religious devotion, teenage pregnancy, miscarriages, sexual abuse, or just about any other human experience. Genograms can be developed for an individual specifically to track addictions, cancers, emotional fusions, estrangements, psychiatric disorders, and more. While there are some standard symbols – many illustrated in this chart – genograms can be adapted in countless ways. If you're writing up the family history, patterns established in a genogram can be very helpful as a way of explaining why ancestral family members left one geographical area for another, what sorts of relationship issues members had and may help to unearth other family members who were not officially recognized.One thing I love about genograms is that a genogram can be very flexible.Be very careful to avoid approaching your family members in a judgmental way as a result of making a genogram talk to your family or personal counselor before proceeding to reach conclusions from a self-generated genogram. While you might find your aunt has a tendency to quit every job she has ever had while your cousin has always seemed to steal other people's boyfriends, it's not a good idea to use the genogram to "prove" your point that a family member needs psychoanalysis. Avoid using the genogram to make assumptions about the motivations of family members as well, or using this to confront them.Talk to a medical professional about any potential for hereditary problems of this type. The data is one thing, but avoid using it to confirm that your family has a particular disease, or mental issue. There may be hereditary patterns or particular psychological tendencies that are very noticeable when grouped together in this way. Once you've made the genogram, look carefully to see what patterns can be identified. Do you want to know who in your family has depression, addictions, or a history of cancer? Perhaps you want to know more about why your mother and her mother never get along, by looking for the right clues you’ll be able to make a genogram that serves your goals. Think about what kind of information you want to learn from making your genogram.It will also tell you how many kids each union (typically between two individuals) has, what each child is like, and what the individual relationships are between members on more than just a physical level. For example, a genogram can tell you who is married, divorced, widowed, etc.You'll not only learn who is in your family, but how everyone is connected through physical and emotional relationships. Only in addition to looking at the branches, you also look at the leaves on each branch. Once you know why you're making a genogram, whether it’s for a healthcare provider, school project, or just to get to know you and your family more, knowing what it is you want to learn can help you to organize how you go about populating your genogram.
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