Genograms Template Page 2
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4GENOGRAMS
The Family Information Net ("Genograms," McGoldrick)
The process of gathering family information can be thought of as casting out metaphorical information net in larger and
larger circles in order to capture relevant Information about the family and its broader context. The net spreads out in a
number of different directions:
From the presenting problem to the larger context of the problem
From the Immediate household to the extended family and broader social systems
From the present family situation to a historical chronology of family events
From easy, non-threatening queries to difficult, anxiety-provoking questions
From obvious facts to judgments about functioning and relation-ships to hypothesized family patterns
QUESTIONS
The Presenting Problem and Immediate Household
1. Who lives in the household?
2. Now is each person related?
3. Where do other family members live?
4. Which family members know about the problem?
5. Now does each view it, and now has each of them responded?
6. Has anyone in the family ever had similar problems?
7. What solutions were attempted by whom in those situations?
The Current Situation
8. What has been happening recently in your family?
9. Have there been any recent changes in the family (i.e., people corning or leaving, illnesses, job problems, etc.)?
The Wider Family Content
10. Let's begin with your mother's family. Your mother was which one of how many children?
11. When was she born?
12. Is she alive?
13. (If not), when did she die? What was the cause of her death?
14. (If alive), where is she now? What does she do?
15. Is she retired? When did this happen?
16. When and how did your mother meet your father? When did they marry?
17. Had she been married before? (If so), when? Did she have any children by that marriage? Did they separate or
divorce or did her spouse die? If so, when was that?
The Social Content
18. What roles have outside people played in your family?
19. Have you gotten help from the community?
20. Who outside the family has been Important In your life?
21. Has anyone else ever lived with your family? When? Where are they now?
22. What has been your family's experience with doctors and other helping professionals?
The Facts
The goal is to obtain the following for each family member:
23. Dates of birth, marriage, separation, divorce, illness, and death (Including cause);
24. Sibling position;
25. Ethnic and religious background;
26. Occupation and education;
27. Current whereabouts.
The Historical Perspective of the Family
28. Now did the family react when a particular family member was born?
29. Who was named after whom and who "should have been"?
30. How did the family react when a particular family member died? Who took it the hardest? The easiest? Who
attended the funeral? Who wasn't there that "should have been"?
31. When and why did the family migrate to this country? How many generations of the family have lived here? How well did the
initial generations fare? Which members of the Immigrant generation learned the language?
MCWTS
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CWFT Module 4 Chapter 4
Genograms
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Parent category: Life