The Genogram Blog
Clinically-grounded writing on genograms — the theory behind them, how to read one, the questions that make them useful, and how they're used across family therapy, social work, and nursing. New posts weekly.
- Theory
Enmeshed Family: Signs, Causes, and How a Genogram Maps It
When closeness has no boundaries, it stops being closeness. The signs of an enmeshed family, how it differs from healthy connection, and how a genogram makes the pattern visible.
- Theory
Intergenerational Trauma: How It Passes Down — and How a Genogram Maps It
Pain, fear, and survival patterns travel down a family even when no one talks about them. How intergenerational trauma works — and how a genogram makes it visible.
- Clinical use
Family of Origin: What It Means and How to Map Yours
The family you grew up in becomes the template for how you do relationships now. What “family of origin” means — and why mapping yours is a standard clinical exercise.
- Theory
Differentiation of Self: Bowen's Core Concept
The ability to stay connected to your family and still think for yourself under pressure. What Bowen meant by differentiation — and why it isn't the same as independence.
- Theory
Triangulation in Family Systems: The Three-Person Pattern
When the tension between two people pulls in a third, that's a triangle. Why families do it, the forms it takes, and how triangulation shows up on a genogram.
- Theory
What Is Family Systems Therapy?
It treats the family — not the individual — as the unit that needs to change. The main schools of family systems therapy, what a session looks like, and where the genogram fits.
- Theory
Emotional Cutoff: When Families Go Silent
Cutting contact can feel like freedom, but Bowen saw it as the most intense form of unresolved attachment. What emotional cutoff is, why it backfires, and how it reads on a genogram.
- Theory
Bowen Family Systems Theory: The Ideas Behind the Genogram
Differentiation, triangles, cutoff, the multigenerational transmission of anxiety — and why the genogram is the tool that makes them visible.
- Interpreting
How to Read and Interpret a Genogram
Building one is half the job. Here's how to actually read a genogram — structure, the emotional layer, and the patterns that repeat across generations.
- How-to
Genogram Questions to Ask in a Family Assessment
A genogram is only as good as the questions behind it. The prompts that surface structure, relationships, health, and the patterns underneath.
- Clinical use
The Medical Genogram: Mapping Family Health History
When the family history is medical — heart disease, cancer, depression — the genogram becomes a risk map. What to record and how to shade it.
- Clinical use
The Spiritual Genogram: Faith and Values Across Generations
Faith travels down a family like everything else. How a spiritual genogram maps belief, conversion, and the tensions around them.
- How-to
How to Make a Genogram in Microsoft Word
It's possible with Word's shapes and connectors. Here's the real step-by-step — and the point where most people give up and reach for a real tool.
- Clinical use
Genograms in Nursing: A Practical Guide
Why nursing programs assign them, how they fit a family health assessment, and how to build one for a care plan without the busywork.
- Interpreting
Reading the Emotional Relationship Lines on a Genogram
Close, distant, conflict, cutoff, fused — the emotional layer is what separates a genogram from a family tree. What each line actually means.
- Clinical use
Using Genograms in Addiction and Recovery
Substance use runs in patterns, not just genes. How a genogram surfaces the intergenerational picture — and the roles and cutoffs around it.