A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words….
by Kathleen M. Brown MS, NCC
I ‘m not much of a TV watcher but each week I look forward to viewing new episodes of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates on my local PBS station. Why? Because it is fascinating to me why so many of us desire connections with past generations and wish to identify our place in the web of life. During the last decade or so there has been a growing interest in families seeking information about their ancestors. Widespread attention to such services as ancestory.com and 23andMe attests to the fact that there is increasing popularity among people in creating their own family tree. With computer access to records, more and more individuals find it possible to research their forbearers.
Family trees are only a mere representation of parent and child links. However, there are complex interplays within a family unit which can only be understood through the use of a genogram. We in the counseling profession sometimes invite clients to explore familial relationships by incorporating this concrete tool. The genogram displays information graphically in a way that provides a quick overview of intricate family patterns. When used in a clinical setting a genogram visually maps out recurring family patterns over 3 or more generations.
The genogram is useful in gathering information, understanding relationship dynamics and behavioral patterns to promote a client’s self-understanding and guide the therapist to intervention. Seeing family behavior and relationships graphically helps to reframe and normalize clients’ perspectives on their concerns. The genogram is useful in charting the basic family structure and recording individualized information to better understand relationship dynamics (McGoldrick, Gerson, & Perry, 2008). Serious problems such as alcohol and substance use, mental illness, divorce, abuse, legal and financial issues, along with strengths like caregiving, career choices, talents, education, and spiritual connections are just a sampling of the patterns that can be illustrated.
One individual realized, by going back and looking critically at family structures, how that upbringing affected both past and present. The person said,
I had a childhood that could be characterized as happy, and I loved my parents. As an adult, I parented my children much as my parents raised me.
Sometime in my 40’s I had an opportunity to think through and consider the things I had learned from my parents. Much of what I learned from them was healthy. My dad loved to read, and he loved sports. I remember watching and enjoying sports from an early age. We had “our” teams that we cheered for. And now, many of my dad’s grandchildren love sports and have their favorite teams. I also developed my dad’s love of reading, and I am seeing that same trait in my dad’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My mom was creative, and she had a knack for being creative very economically. She loved to bake and garden, and this has passed down to her children and grandchildren.
However, there were some things I realized were not healthy. I wanted to remove the unhealthy habits and replace them with better choices. There were times that my mom was a bit harsh when we misbehaved. I was also somewhat harsh when I raised my older children. This was a behavior that I realized I wanted to change. My youngest child benefited from me working to change. I still have to work at being more patient and gentle with people, and I am glad that I can use my past to influence my future.
As a clinician I find the experience of constructing a genogram with clients to be therapeutic in and of itself. A genogram interview is often conducted within the context of a therapy session and can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several sessions to complete. The process often requires the client to reach out to other family members for information. In doing so it is very likely that distant relationships may be rekindled. I believe that the most valuable outcome of a genogram is that it tells a story, one that can be passed down to future generations. It serves as a wakeup call to reinforce the bonds that strengthen family ties and address detrimental patterns that are doomed to repeat if not acknowledged.
As you can see a genogram is a family tree that comes alive because it illustrates not only how members of a family relate to one another but how these people interact with each other. Genograms help uncover intergenerational patterns of behavior, marriage choices, family alliances, conflicts, the existence of family secrets, and other information that can shed light on a client’s present situation. What better reason to collaborate with your counselor to create a genogram than to be able to learn life lessons from your ancestors?
For more information and an explanation about genogram symbols visit https://stanfield.pbworks.com/f/explaining_genograms.pdf
Reference
McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R., & Petry, S. (2008). Genograms: Assessment and intervention (3rd ed.). W. W. Norton & Co.