Family genogram how to make an example. Genogram in family psychotherapy

22.05.2019

It happens that no logic explains why what is happening. This happens if a person continues to live according to scenarios and programs laid down by his predecessors, ancestors. To figure out which program of the past affects the present day, you need to build a genogram. And today an article is about How to make a genogram.

A woman condemns herself to suffering.
Luck bypasses.
Effort and labor do not generate income in any way.
Throughout life, he is haunted by a feeling of innuendo, uncertainty.
With excellent health, it is impossible to conceive children.

A genogram is a map of relationships between several generations of a family. Family tree, or pedigree, supplemented by facts. The genogram contains data on life and death, health, important events and shocks, oaths and crimes. All events, thoughts and ideas that influence the way of thinking, feelings - everything must find a place in the genogram.

How to create a genogram

Facts include knowledge that is precisely known and verifiable - for example, date of birth, last name, first name, patronymic, place of residence, place of work, position, etc. The facts are of the highest degree of certainty. To get the facts, you can, if possible, ask your relatives who may know something. Information about those killed and missing in the war, repressed relatives can be found in the archives. Some archives are freely available on the Internet, and, if you wish, you can try to find information about your relatives directly from your computer. (* The addresses of online archives can be found in the support service.)

2. Legends.

Many families have stories, stories, myths and legends about ancestors that are passed down from generation to generation.

3. Family values (artifacts).

Any items that are inherited from generation to generation. Items that carry to descendants the memory of the ancestor who possessed them. For example, it can be jewelry, medals, grandmother's samovar, photographs, documents, books - each family has something different.

4. Memories.

Memories include memories of any events that happened to family members. For example, it can be some kind of visual images, or a favorite melody of childhood, or a feeling of bliss, the smell of freshly cut hay, the taste of fresh milk, grandma's mushroom soup, or something else that people remember at least something and can tell.

5. Assumptions and conjectures.

The client himself can have, or make up, some idea about his ancestors. For example, if he knows that one of the ancestors was a merchant, then in history books you can read about how the merchants lived. If possible, you can visit the museum, see the life of that time and form an assumption about how this merchant - ancestor lived approximately. It should also be noted that all information about each system for the entire period of its existence can be obtained from the information field. The field always exists, regardless of us and our knowledge about it. Even if the client does not know anything about his ancestors, the field is still there, and data from it can be read, for example, using the family constellation method. All this knowledge can be useful when drawing up a genogram.

How to create a genogram

For starters, you can draw common symbols of people - circles or squares. Do this for as many family members as you deem necessary.

Medical information. The genogram can be used to investigate recurring family scenarios - for example, recurring family illnesses. The idea behind looking for repetitive scenarios is to keep an eye on a fact that has been recurring in your family over several generations. You can trace the history of family illnesses. Diseases such as alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease, pancreatic disease, liver disease, and some other diseases are sometimes genetically transmitted.

Emotional patterns. Pay attention to how each person in your family system feels for themselves, for others, and for life. Some may be open-minded, receptive, cheerful, lucky or optimistic, while others may suffer from various phobias, depression, jealousy and negativism, and have a tough, stern disposition. Emotional patterns can be identified by asking questions such as: "What five words do you think would best describe this relative?"

After that, you can compare how you see this relative of you with how other people see him. Some of the family members may say: Most of the time (70%) he was angry, angry, taciturn ", another will add that" He had bad contact with people, was in conflict and was an unhappy person. " This approach can help you see and overcome “inherited” patterns.

The dynamics of intrafamily relations. With the help of a genogram, you can trace how members of your family system relate (or relate to) each other. For example, you can ask your parents: "What kind of relationship did grandparents have, uncle and aunt, etc." Family relationships, for example, can be distant, intimate or hostile, withdrawn or open, judgmental or exploratory, manipulative or seeking compromise.

With the help of a genogram, you can see how members of your family over several generations dealt with a crisis of relations, in whose hands there was superiority, who made decisions, whose word meant more and whose less. All this information can be shown schematically on a genogram.

Family system. You can try to figure out how your family system works, how different parts of it work together, or how they fail. You can see if there are any special groups (coalitions) that stick together and do not give access to others, or special roles assigned to certain family members? Are there any violations (divorce, separation of spouses, family feud), family geeks or "problem" people?

Family beliefs, values. Whether you like it or not, your family members pass on their experiences and beliefs to you. This happens in any area of family life: how to raise children, how to deal with teenagers, when and whom to marry, how many children should be, how to earn a living, what is the best job, how to measure success, how to cope with a crisis, loss, trauma, tragedy, how to grow old and how to meet death. Pay close attention to your family beliefs. Most likely, they are very similar to what you consciously or unconsciously believe in. They dictate how you need to live in order to survive. They can limit your thinking, block your development, and keep you from reaching your potential if they are dysfunctional, broken, or immature.

Your family and community. It will be very good if you look at how your family sees itself as a part of society. How does your family present itself to society? With what other systems does he identify himself? And how does society usually respond to your family? Drawing up a genogram begins with the person who wants to build it, i.e. if I want to compose my genogram, I will start with myself, then go to my parents, then to my grandparents, great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers, and so on. It all depends on how much information I have about my ancestors.

An example of a genogram

You can schematically indicate the nature of the relationship between certain members of the genus - close, conflict, etc. For your own genogram, you can use both standard designations and your own.

You can build a genogram on sheets of various formats, but it is much more convenient to use computer programs designed specifically for working with genograms. At any time, you can enter new information into the created genogram file, change something, correct it.

, Chief Psychologist of the Center for Virtual Synergetics

Necessary information for working with a genosociogram

The age at the moment of all family members.
Dates of birth and death, age and diagnosis of deceased relatives.
Dates of marriage, duration of marriages. The age of the children at the time of the termination of the relationship (divorce).
Myths and legends of the family, as well as related to the cause of death of some relatives.
The age difference between the spouses.
Change of surname, name.
The number of children in families.
Abortions, miscarriages.
Professions.
Diseases, alcoholism, drug addiction.
Imprisonment in places of deprivation of liberty (prisons, correctional colonies).
Suicide, rape, violent death, physical injury.
Traffic accidents, accidents.
Emigration, exile.
Incest (the first type - forbidden ties between blood relatives, the second type - between people who became relatives as a result of marriage).

What questions can be clarified when working with the genogram of your family? What can this seemingly dry and impersonal scheme of the family tree talk about?

It turns out that very dramatic and vivid situations of human destinies can be encrypted in it.
Here are just a few examples that sounded precisely through the work with the genogram.

A middle-aged woman suffered greatly from her husband's infidelity. An intolerable situation of scandals and showdowns lasted in the family for a year. When drawing up a hemogram, it turned out that the woman's father died when she was 19 years old. And her son was also 19 years old when there was a drama in her and her husband's family. So, at times, the family soul manifests itself bizarrely - in this family, children “lose” their fathers at the age of 19! And betrayal of her husband, perhaps, is needed not so much by him as by the family soul of the "injured" woman.

A woman in her early 30s has never been married or had long-term strong relationships with men.... She talked about how she did not seem to see the men around. They don't seem to exist in her world. And, even when, nevertheless, one of the men appeared in her life, she had "nothing to look at." Studying the history of her family and drawing up a hemogram, the woman told about a long-standing story that suddenly surfaced: her maternal grandfather had cheated on his wife. His betrayal became known to everyone, and the grandfather and the homeowner were all condemned and accused. The grandfather was forced to cut off the relationship with this person, who by that time had become pregnant, and she had to have an abortion. Our heroine turned out to be connected with this woman and her unborn child, which already belonged to their family, because it was the child of her grandfather.

And she kind of took the side of the rejected woman and her child. Feeling the same as she (resentment towards men, distrust of them), our heroine also excluded men from her life, reminding the whole family about this story left in the past by her fate.

Sometimes our failures and failures, and the accompanying severe states of insecurity and depression, can also be rooted in our family histories.

Man forty years he started his own business, in which he was associated with official organizations and their representatives. He constantly had inconsistencies, difficulties with agreements, premises, etc. This made him very depressed, he was very worried, there were times when he was ready to give up everything. Very often he was accompanied by a feeling of heaviness and burden of some unpaid debt and guilt. Compiling a genogram, he lamented that it was difficult for him now to get information, his parents died and there was no one to ask. And already working in a group on generic scripts, he suddenly remembered that he had a brother who died when our hero was very young. It is important for a family soul that the memory of everyone is preserved, and everyone takes his place. People whose brothers or sisters died early try to live their lives as if for them and, very often, do not dare to be happy, successful and prosperous. They seem to say to the dead: I, too, will refuse to live a full life, because your fate haunts me.

We will continue to publish family weaves, which are clarified when working with the family genogram.

See also articles by Alena Oleshko, chief psychologist of the Center for Virtual Synergetics

A genogram is a graphical record of information about a family (classically and clinically - in three generations), its compilation and research is a method of family psychotherapy.

Explanation

The genogram is a structured diagram of the system of intrafamily relationships in 3-4 generations. Proposed by Murray Bowen in 1978. (Bowen, 1978) in an intergenerational approach to family therapy. Its purpose is to show how patterns of behavior and intrafamily relationships are passed down through generations and how events like deaths, illnesses, major professional successes, moving to a new place of residence of family members affect modern behavioral patterns, as well as intrafamily dyads and triangles.

The genogram allows the psychotherapist and the family to get a holistic picture, considering all the phenomena and events of family life in a kind of integral vertical perspective.

The genogram allows the psychotherapist and the family to get a holistic picture, considering all the phenomena and events of family life in a kind of integral vertical perspective. Sometimes she highlights what was a secret for some family members, pulling "skeletons from the closet." This approach has much in common with traditional approaches to collecting family history data. Its main distinguishing feature is structuredness and schematization. The technique usually involves the involvement of an extended family of clients. The genogram uses symbols to illustrate the specifics of intra-family relationships, which, along with other data, are used to depict the relationships of family members and their positions in the family system. Such a diagram is like a map of the family.

When data has been collected about the names, age of each family member, time of marriage, death, divorce, birth, you can begin to collect other important facts about the functioning of the family system - such as the frequency and quality of contacts, emotional breakdowns, factors leading to conflict and anxiety. , the level of closeness and openness of family subsystems and the family as a whole. Family scenarios, values, rules, male and female standards of behavior can also be identified during interviews based on this technique.

Procedure

The aim of the methodology is to obtain a diagram that reflects the history of the extended family for at least three generations. The work can be carried out at any time after the start of regular family meetings and is a routine method of gathering information about the family to better understand the problem and find ways to solve it. It is usually carried out in the presence of all family members who are able to listen and perceive information, including children. It is assumed that family members are interested in this information, and they are curious to learn more about their close relatives.

Symptom presentation

The conversation usually begins with the symptom presented by the family: who owns it, when it first arose, and what was its clinical development. Moreover, physical, emotional and socially maladaptive symptoms are considered as a manifestation of the dysfunctionality of the family system of emotional relationships. And the behavior of the bearer of the symptom reflects how anxiety manifests itself and is overcome in a given family. The timing of the onset and subsequent intensification of symptoms may be related to other family events, such as the death of a close relative.

The genogram uses symbols to illustrate the specifics of intra-family relationships, which, along with other data, are used to depict the relationships of family members and their positions in the family system.

Family history description

Then the family history begins, from the time the parents met - right up to the present. The age of the spouses, the exact date of their first meeting, what they did in those days when they were the bride and groom, the wedding itself, what happened before the birth of the first child, the influence of the order of birth of children on their physical and psychological characteristics are significant here. In what geographic points the family lived and when exactly did it move to another place - all this is very important. Especially if the move was a very close or very distant distance from the parental family. Data on the health, education and professional career of each parent is also collected at this stage of the interview. The story of the extended family, from both the mother's and father's side, is discussed next. Here, at a minimum, it is necessary to learn about the brothers and sisters of the mother and father, about the emotional atmosphere in their parental families, about what all family members are currently doing. The exact dates of events in the parental family are important because they can be correlated with events in the nuclear family.

Physical and emotional boundaries

The psychotherapist uses a conversation based on a sociogram in order to talk about questions about the physical and emotional boundaries in a given family, about the closeness and openness of its subsystems, about the diversity or limitedness of patterns of relationships between family members and the means of communication between them. Substantive factors such as cultural, ethnic and religious affiliation, socioeconomic level, how the family interacts with the meta-family context - the community - are also taken into account here.

Symbolism

As information arrives, it is recorded in special symbols. Each psychotherapist can use symbols that are convenient for him, but the generally accepted designations are as follows: the family genogram is a kind of family tree, but with a slightly different system of records and different purposes. Men are represented here by squares, women by circles. These circles and squares are marked with the dates of birth and death (if the person died). The lines between the icons indicate the dates of entering into a registered or unregistered marriage, separation-gap-divorce. The nature of the relationship between certain members of the genus - close, conflicting, contradictory - can also be denoted by lines of different styles (double, broken, etc.). As, however, and the cause of the conflict - for example, if the spouses are in conflict over their child.

Using the family genogram

The genogram contains a huge amount of information, presented in a schematic form in a small space. This allows you to capture the entire family history with a single glance. In the process of working on the basis of this technique, family members get the opportunity to self-identify, learn about what is really happening in their family, about their historical roots and how these roots affect the current state of family relations. Working with a genogram can help a family break down emotional breakdowns, dysfunctional triangles and alliances, and reduce anxiety. make positive changes in the family system. In addition, the genogram is a powerful diagnostic tool that can
applied from the point of view of the specific theoretical orientations of a given professional.

Literature:

1. Chernikov A.V. Systemic family therapy. Classics and modernity. Moscow. Independent firm "Class". 2005
2. Anne Anselin Schutzenberger Ancestral Syndrome. Transgenerational connections, family secrets, anniversary syndrome, trauma transmission, and the practical use of the genosociogram. Moscow. Publishing house of the Institute of Psychotherapy. 2005 year

Genogram - the story of your Family

Each of us, whether he wants it or not, is a descendant of his Kin, a member of the family of his ancestors, an element of his own family system. Belonging to the family system is one of the very important and significant resources of a person, which increases the success and efficiency of his life. The feeling of love and support from your ancestors, the feeling of belonging to your Family, the feeling of the strength of your Family, gives a person a huge life resource, called "love of the family."

A person, for some reason cut off from his kind, resembles a tree without roots. He often feels lonely, cannot be successful enough, self-confident and effective. If he does not receive the love and power of the Family sufficiently, then he cannot transfer this power further - to his children. That is why, in the families of aristocrats, it is an honor to have a deep knowledge of their family history - genealogy. Knowledge of their roots, knowledge and reverence for each ancestor gives descendants a special resource - vitality - the love of the family.

A child is born thanks to his parents - mom and dad. It combines two huge clans - the clan of the mother and the clan of the father. And if a child accepts and respects his parents, he receives one hundred percent of the strength of his kind. If one of the parents, for some reason, is not accepted by the child, then the child thereby loses half of the vitality - the strength of his Kin. If the child does not accept the father, then he is deprived of 50% of the male power, and if he does not accept the mother, then 50% of the female power. And, as a result, the flow of love is interrupted, and a person may have certain life problems and difficulties.

Parents give the child the most valuable thing - his life. This particular child could not have received his life in any other way under other circumstances from anyone else. Even if one of the parents were a little different, then someone very similar to him would be born, but it would be no longer him, but a completely different child! A deep awareness of this fact usually helps a person accept their parents.

In order to restore the interrupted flow of love of the clan and find a joyful, reinforcing sense of belonging to one's family system, one's Clan, one's "family tree", the Hellinger method of family constellation is effectively used.

According to Bert Hellinger's approach, each person is part of a specific family-clan system. As part of the system, a person is included in some systemic family-clan interaction, which has a significant impact on his entire life and destiny. This interaction can be structurally described by the categories and orders of general systems theory. Within each family-clan system, certain laws operate according to which it lives and develops. These laws are the same for all family systems. Bert Hellinger called them "orders of love."

One of the laws of the family system is the "order of belonging." Each member of the system has the right to belong to it. No one should be excluded, regardless of his actions, life principles, etc. Nobody is forgotten. The system equally remembers everyone who belongs to it (or belonged), and clearly defines the place of each. Everyone is important for the system - without him his children would not have been born and everything in the family would be different.

If someone from the members of the system for some reason was excluded from it - forgotten, vilified or deliberately deleted, then someone from the descendants of this family system can repeat his fate, carry his feelings, live his life - mix the excluded person, even if it happens after several generations. This is due to the system's desire for integrity, reimbursement and homeostasis. Any system strives for balance and survival.

In the family system, unfinished processes of the past unconsciously involve living members in what was long ago. This is the law of balancing the system, obeying which the descendants must complete the work unfinished by their ancestors: "finish", "burn out", "live" something and for someone. If someone in the family was forgotten and deprived of their right to belong to the system (a missing grandfather, an aborted child, a repressed or murdered relative), someone else from the family system will take his place and will live like him, reminding him of the excluded. There will be “interlacing”, projection or substitution of destinies - ie. some of the living descendants of the excluded will be connected ("entwined") with him and his fate. At the same time, he himself may have a difficult fate, it is difficult to realize his “I”, his actions, his needs and desires (the consequence is inappropriate behavior), to live for another, eat for another (the consequence is overweight), work for another ( consequence - hyperactivity, workaholism).

Thus, the unsuspecting descendant finds himself entwined with the fate of his ancestors, about which he most likely knows nothing. Without realizing it, he does not live his own life, solves other people's life problems.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to restore the right to belong to the family of members excluded from it - i.e. take them back into the system, thereby restoring integrity, order, harmony and the flow of love.

A genogram allows you to work with family history - a graphical record of information about a family, a schematic representation of a family over several generations. Sometimes a genogram is called a "genosociogram". Its compilation and research is one of the methods of psychotherapeutic correction of family relationships (family psychotherapy).

The genogram is a fun way to learn about yourself through your family history. It allows you to establish contact with your ancestors, see and understand your position in the system. When compiling a genogram, an excluded or forgotten ancestor may appear. Building contact with him will avoid interweaving for posterity.

Generating a genogram is based on the client's knowledge of the family system - their ancestors, relatives and people who are important to his family system. And the more knowledge, the more accurate the genogram and the better the contact with the ancestors.

Family history knowledge can be categorized as follows:

1. Facts... Facts include knowledge that is precisely known and verifiable - for example, date of birth, last name, first name, patronymic, place of residence, place of work, position, etc. The facts are of the highest degree of certainty. To get the facts, you can, if possible, ask your relatives who may know something. Information about those killed and missing in the war, repressed relatives can be found in the archives. Some archives are freely available on the Internet, and, if you wish, you can try to find information about your relatives directly from your computer.

(* The addresses of online archives can be found in the support service.)

2. Legends... Many families have stories, stories, myths and legends about ancestors that are passed down from generation to generation.

3. Family values (artifacts)... Any items that are inherited from generation to generation. Items that carry to descendants the memory of the ancestor who possessed them. For example, it can be jewelry, medals, grandmother's samovar, photographs, documents, books - each family has something different.

4. Memories... Memories include memories of any events that happened to family members. For example, it can be some kind of visual images, or a favorite melody of childhood, or a feeling of bliss, the smell of freshly cut hay, the taste of fresh milk, grandma's mushroom soup, or something else that people remember at least something and can tell.

5. Assumptions and speculations... The client himself can have, or make up, some idea about his ancestors. For example, if he knows that one of the ancestors was a merchant, then in history books you can read about how the merchants lived. If possible, you can visit the museum, see the life of that time and form an assumption about how this merchant - ancestor lived approximately.

It should also be noted that all information about each system for the entire period of its existence can be obtained from the information field. The field always exists, regardless of us and our knowledge about it. Even if the client does not know anything about his ancestors, the field is still there, and data from it can be read, for example, using the family constellation method.

All this knowledge can be useful when drawing up a genogram.

The genogram of a family is a kind of family tree, or genealogical tree, on which not only family members can be reflected, but also the relationship that was between them.

With the help of a specialist, or on your own, you can compose and analyze the genogram in the following areas:

Family (genealogical) tree.

The family tree shows who descended from whom.

Perhaps you will be surprised by the fact that if you take 7 generations up from you, taking into account only direct ancestors - parents and their parents, excluding their brothers and sisters, then there will be 127 people on the genogram.

Don't worry if you don't know any of them for some reason. For starters, you can draw common symbols of people - circles or squares. Do this for as many family members as you deem necessary.

Medical information.

The genogram can be used to investigate recurring family scenarios - for example, recurring family illnesses. The idea behind looking for repetitive scenarios is to keep an eye on a fact that has been recurring in your family over several generations. You can trace the history of family illnesses. Diseases such as alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease, pancreatic disease, liver disease, and some other diseases are sometimes genetically transmitted.

Emotional patterns.

Pay attention to how each person in your family system feels for themselves, for others, and for life. Some may be open-minded, receptive, cheerful, lucky or optimistic, while others may suffer from various phobias, depression, jealousy and negativism, and have a tough, stern disposition.

Emotional patterns can be identified by asking questions such as: "What five words do you think would best describe this relative?"

After that, you can compare how you see this relative of you with how other people see him.

Some of the family members may say: Most of the time (70%) he was angry, angry, taciturn ", another will add that" He had bad contact with people, was in conflict and was an unhappy person. "

This approach can help you see and overcome “inherited” patterns.

The dynamics of intrafamily relations.

With the help of a genogram, you can trace how members of your family system relate (or relate to) each other.

For example, you can ask your parents: "What kind of relationship did grandparents have, uncle and aunt, etc."

Family relationships, for example, can be distant, intimate or hostile, withdrawn or open, judgmental or exploratory, manipulative or seeking compromise. With the help of a genogram, you can see how members of your family over several generations dealt with a crisis of relations, in whose hands there was superiority, who made decisions, whose word meant more and whose less.
All this information can be shown schematically on a genogram.

Family system.

You can try to figure out how your family system works, how different parts of it work together, or how they fail.

You can see if there are any special groups (coalitions) that stick together and do not give access to others, or special roles assigned to certain family members? Are there any violations (divorce, separation of spouses, family feud), family geeks or "problem" people?

Family beliefs, values.

Whether you like it or not, your family members pass on their experiences and beliefs to you. This happens in any area of family life: how to raise children, how to deal with teenagers, when and whom to marry, how many children should be, how to earn a living, what is the best job, how to measure success, how to cope with a crisis, loss, trauma, tragedy, how to grow old and how to meet death.

Pay close attention to your family beliefs. Most likely, they are very similar to what you consciously or unconsciously believe in. They dictate how you need to live in order to survive. They can limit your thinking, block your development, and keep you from reaching your potential if they are dysfunctional, broken, or immature.

Your family and community.
It will be very good if you look at how your family sees itself as a part of society. How does your family present itself to society? With what other systems does he identify himself? And how does society usually respond to your family?

Drawing up a genogram begins with the person who wants to build it, i.e. if I want to compose my genogram, I will start with myself, then go to my parents, then to my grandparents, great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers, and so on. It all depends on how much information I have about my ancestors.

An example of a genogram

There are certain rules and symbols for drawing up a genogram. Usually, men are denoted by squares, and women - by circles, near which you can indicate the date of birth of a person, the date of his death (if he has already died). The lines between the icons denote relationships between people - entering into a relationship, into a registered or unregistered marriage, separation, breakup, divorce. You can schematically indicate the nature of the relationship between certain members of the genus - close, conflict, etc. For your own genogram, you can use both standard designations and your own.

What to do with the resulting genogram?

You can invite a professional artist who will beautifully depict your family tree on paper or canvas. The resulting picture should take its rightful place of honor in your home.

Meet your relatives, talk about your ancestors, discuss your family history. And, over time, you will create your own genogram. And this special knowledge will give you pride, self-confidence and strength of your Family.

A genogram is a graphic map of a family or its history, where special symbols are used for all family members, as well as for their relationships, significant dates, historical events. The gennogram helps to identify the sources of recurring problems, physical illness, depression, genetic diseases, etc. Usually, genograms are used by various specialists in the field of medicine and psychology, but you can do it yourself.

To do this, you need to ask all family members, as well as those who are somehow involved in your family. Then, using special symbols, create a gennogram (see below), as a result of which you get a real family (genealogical) tree.

Step 1. Family scheme

Take a blank sheet of A3 paper (in the future you can glue additional sheets as your tree expands).

There are several options for compiling a family tree:

1) Start with yourself by adding your spouse and children.

2) start with parents

3) Make two trees from each of the parents, and then glue them together, where you will be the center.

Choose the method that works best for you.

Traditionally, men are indicated by a square and women by a circle. After drawing yourself or your parents, start expanding the scheme by placing your grandparents, great-grandparents and great-grandmothers, as well as all their children (including aborted, stillborn, and infantile deaths) up to the 7th generation (total 126 people of direct relatives). Don't worry if you don't know much about your ancestors, just draw circles and squares for all your family members. In the place where you know the details, include name, age, dates of birth and death, and dates of marriages and divorces.

Step 2. Family physiology

Next, trace the history of diseases in the family, since most diseases are transmitted genetically, this information will be very useful to you.
Your main task is to find recurring diseases in your genus.

Step 3. Family psychology

Pay attention to the feelings that each person in your family had for themselves and for others. You will notice that some family members are open, friendly, cheerful, optimistic, while others, on the contrary, are depressed, boring and dull people, suffering from fears and phobias, and having a difficult character.
You can determine these features by asking something like this question: "What 5 words most characterize my / my ...?" Then compare the answers you received with the way you see your ancestor. This will help you see some of your hereditary traits.

Step 4. Family relationships

Now look at how your family members treated each other. Find out what kind of relationship dad and mom had, grandfather and grandmother, great-grandfather and great-grandmother. What kind of relationship was in each pair, open or closed, trusting or judgmental, manipulative or communicative? How did each family deal with the crisis in the relationship, who dominated the couple? Sketch all this information on the genogram.

Step 5. Family system

It's also important to look at how the different parts of your system interact with each other. Are there any special family groupings? What family violations exist (divorce, betrayal, family enmity, etc.)? Are there any “problem” people in the family? It is important to understand how your family system works and interacts from generation to generation.
You can use colored pencils for specific parts of your family system.

6 step. Family values

Determine what experiences of family values and beliefs have been passed on to you. This applies to any area of life - raising children, communicating with adolescents, getting married, the number of children, vocation and destiny, the ability to cope with crises and losses, old age and meeting death. Pay attention to what you believe, knowingly or unknowingly. If beliefs are false, they can block your thinking, personal development, and your potential.

7 step. Family interaction

Finally, look at what your family looks like in relation to society. How does your family interact with society? How does society respond to your family? What difficult historical events befell your family and relatives (war, revolution, dispossession, repression, etc.)

Below are the symbols that are commonly used when composing a genogram. But you can always show your creativity: create archival cards for each family member, or use special computer programs, come up with your own designations, highlight in color, etc.

This guide will help you create a genogram without any specific skill or training. But if you want the process of drawing up a gennogram to become a healing one for you, then it is best to contact a specialist, or go through a special training "The Power of the Family", and participate in it online without leaving your home.

PS: After your genogram is ready, you can do a special practice by putting your finger on each circle or square, and saying something like this: “My dear grandfather, I am very grateful and grateful to you for the life that you gave me, your destiny was very difficult, but I agree with it. " It is very important to speak without thinking, but feeling with your heart, saying everything that lies in your soul. You can also practice bowing for each member of your family as a token of gratitude and agreement.