Guide
Guides
Plain guides to genograms, written for people who draw them. They explain what a genogram is, how one is made, what the relationship lines mean and what finished examples look like, with drawings made by the editor itself.
- What a genogram isA genogram is a drawing of a family that records who the people are, how they are joined and how they get on, usually across three generations. It uses a fixed notation so that a reader who has never met the family can take the whole of it in at one sitting. This page explains what the diagram holds, how it is read, who draws one and where it came from.Last checked on 20 October 2026
- How to make a genogramA genogram is built in a fixed order, and the order matters more than the tool. You start with the person the chart is for, work upwards through the generations, join the couples and hang the children, and only then add the ties, the conditions and the key. This page walks through those steps on paper and in the editor, and then shows how the same chart is drafted from notes and reviewed.Last checked on 20 October 2026
- The relationship lines of a genogramThe lines between people are what make a genogram more than a family tree, and they are also where most mistakes are made. The notation of McGoldrick, Gerson and Petry (2020) has fifteen emotional lines, and each has one meaning. This page sets them out in groups, explains how they differ from the lines that record marriage and descent, and shows how they are drawn so that the chart stays readable.Last checked on 20 October 2026
- Genogram examplesThe surest way to understand a genogram is to read a finished one. The template library on this site holds thirty-four, each drawn by the editor from written case notes and grouped by the kind of work it comes from. This page takes one from each group, says what to look for in it and explains how to open any of them and make it your own.Last checked on 20 October 2026