Now it can be systematically evaluated: Where are there parallels between family members? Are there similar careers, relationship patterns, separations, difficulties that recur time and again? Is there a discernible connection to current problems or crises?ġ. Once the basic structure has been established, further information (occupation, separations, deaths, strokes of fate, successes etc.) is added as far as it is known. It starts with the person for whom the genogram is created, followed by the representation of the parents' generation, and finally the grandparents and, if applicable, the great-grandparents. All family members and their family relations are shown in a sketch. What do you know about the family? Who belongs to it? What were special events? Collect and write down as much information as possible about several generations of the family.Ī kind of family tree is created on the basis of previously defined symbols. Although the idea had existed for a long time, the genogram was only introduced to family therapy at the beginning of the 1990s.

Finally, family therapists Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson adopted Bowen’s idea (generational family pattern) and systematically developed the genogram as we know it today. Building on Bowen's and Boszorményi-Nagy's work, Satir developed the 'Family Sculpture' to visualize family relationships, in which family members position themselves like statues that interact with each other. The family therapist Virginia Satir (1916 - 1988) brought the development forward. He introduced the multi-generational perspective as an important innovation that is today an integral part of Family Constellation work. Therefore, the family background should always be considered in therapy. Symptoms present in a family member are a sign of outstanding debt. These debts are recorded over the course if generations and must be repaid over and over again. He assumed, among other things, that invisible bonds exist within the family structure and express themselves as 'emotional debts'. Ivan Boszorményi-Nagy (1920-2007), a Hungarian-born physician and psychiatrist, co-founded one of the first family therapy research centers in Philadelphia (USA) that later became the largest family therapy training center in the US.

His goal was to use genograms to gain an overview of family generations and existing family patterns. Bowen (1913-1990) is considered one of the founders of Systemic Therapy. The first family trees (genograms) were created by the American psychiatrist and psychotherapist Murray Bowen.

The genogram evolved from the work of several key family therapy practitioners.

Basic bowen genogram 3 generations