Family Genogram
The first time you see your own family on one page, something usually jumps out. The men on one side who all died young. The three marriages that ended the same way. The grandmother nobody talks to, two squares over from a grandchild with her exact temper. A family genogram is the diagram that makes those patterns visible — a map of how your relatives connect, drawn with a standardized set of symbols that records the emotional quality of each tie and the health and behavioral threads that run down the generations. Build one below — free, no download, on any device.
What a family genogram shows
A family tree answers one question: who is related to whom. A genogram answers a harder one — what those relationships are actually like. Same squares for men, circles for women, but on top of the structure it adds three layers a tree leaves out:
- Emotional relationships — close, distant, conflicted, or cut off — drawn as a second set of lines between people. Two people can share a household and a hostile line at the same time.
- Health and behavioral patterns — depression, heart disease, addiction, a condition that surfaces in one generation and again two later.
- Household structure — marriages, separations, divorces, and the line you draw around who actually lives together.
How to make a family genogram
Start in the middle and work outward. The person at the center is the index person — yourself, or the client you are mapping — and everything else hangs off them.
- Add that first person and mark them as the index in the editor. Their symbol gets the doubled outline so they read as the anchor.
- Work outward with Add parents, Add partner, and Add child until three generations are on the canvas. The step-by-step guide walks through it slowly if you want the detail.
- Connect any two people to record a couple bond, then layer the emotional line on top — close, distant, conflicted, cut off.
- Fill in birth and death years, mark anyone deceased with an X, and export a clean PDF or PNG.
For the layout your supervisor will expect, see the three-generation genogram.
A family genogram example, explained
Picture a simple three-generation diagram. You sit in the middle row, your square or circle ringed by a doubled outline. A horizontal couple line runs to your partner, and your children hang below it in birth order, oldest on the left. A line climbs to your parents, and above them to their parents — the grandparents' row across the top.
That is just the skeleton. The reading starts when you add the second layer: a heavy double line between you and the sibling you grew up close to, a jagged line to the parent there was friction with, an X drawn through the grandfather who has died. Now scan it top to bottom. The same jagged line shows up in two generations. A diagnosis recorded once near the top reappears near the bottom. The diagram stops being a record of who's who and starts showing you the pattern. For more worked examples, see genogram examples.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a family genogram?
- A family genogram is a detailed family diagram that goes beyond a family tree. It uses standardized symbols to record not just who is related to whom, but the emotional quality of those relationships, plus medical and behavioral patterns across at least three generations.
- How is a family genogram different from a family tree?
- A family tree shows lineage — names, dates, and who descends from whom. A family genogram adds a second layer: emotional relationships (close, distant, conflicted, cut off), health and behavioral patterns, and the structure of each household. It is an analytical tool, not just a record of ancestry.
- How many generations should a family genogram include?
- Three generations is the standard — the index person, their parents, and their grandparents (or their children, when building downward). Three generations is usually enough to reveal repeating patterns without becoming unreadable.
- Can I make a family genogram for free?
- Yes. You can build a complete family genogram here in your browser with the full standardized symbol set, no sign-up and no download. Export is free with a small watermark, and an optional Pro plan removes it.