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Genogram vs Ecomap and When to Use Each

A genogram vs ecomap comparison starts with the question you need to answer. A genogram shows family relationships and patterns across generations. An ecomap shows the connections a household has now with people, institutions and services around it.

Last checked on 4 November 20265 minute read

Rivera genogram across three generations. Rosa is Elena’s mother, and Elena and Mateo are the parents of Lucía.
Rivera household ecomap. Rosa and the school support the family, clinic contact is occasional, and work shifts add stress.
The fictional Rivera family drawn both ways. Rosa is a grandmother on the genogram and a source of support on the ecomap.

At a glance

A genogramAn ecomap
PurposeTo understand the family as a system.To understand the family in its surroundings.
CentreThe index person, with the family around them.The household, in a large circle.
What surrounds the centreParents, grandparents, siblings, partners and children.School, work, health services, faith, friends, agencies and benefits.
LinesUnions, parent lines and emotional ties in a fixed notation.Strong, weak or stressful connections, with arrows for direction.
TimeThree generations, with dates.Now, as a snapshot.
Who draws itTherapists, social workers, nurses, doctors and students.Social workers, family nurses, care coordinators and students.

Who each one suits

A genogram is the right diagram when

The question is about the family itself. Who is related to whom, which unions have ended, which relationships are close or hostile, what conditions run through the generations and who lives in one household are all questions a genogram answers in a notation that a reader can check against the key. It is the diagram of pattern over time.

An ecomap is the right diagram when

The question is about the family and the world. Whether a household has a doctor, whether the school is a support or a source of pressure, whether the benefits office, the church and the grandmother across the road are connections of strength or of stress are questions an ecomap answers in one picture. It is the diagram of resources and pressures now.

The same household looks different in each drawing

Lucía lives with Elena and Mateo. Rosa, her grandmother, helps with pickup but lives elsewhere. The genogram shows Rosa as Elena’s mother and Lucía’s grandmother. A reader can follow the parent lines across three generations and see that Lucía is the focus person.

The ecomap puts Lucía’s household in the centre. Rosa and the school are supportive connections, the family has occasional contact with a clinic, and changing work shifts make pickup harder. The key distinguishes support, occasional contact and stress. An arrow points toward the household where support flows in.

Both use lines for the quality of a connection

The two diagrams share one idea, which is that a line can say more than that two things are joined. A genogram can use a double line for closeness, a triple line for fusion or a break to mark cutoff. Check the key for the notation used in a particular drawing. In an ecomap the convention is looser, and the thick, thin, dashed and hatched lines are explained in a legend that the author draws, often with arrows to show the direction of support or demand.

The difference is in what the lines join. A genogram line runs between two people, and the people are nearly always relatives. An ecomap line runs between the household and something outside it, which may be a person, such as a friend or a neighbour, or may be an institution, such as a school, a clinic or a benefits office. A genogram can also join a person to an institution, since the notation provides for it, and that is where the two diagrams meet.

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Close

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Distant

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Hostile

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Cutoff

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Focused on

Five of the emotional lines of the standard notation, drawn by the editor from its notation reference. An ecomap draws the strength of a connection instead, in a style its author chooses.

Genogram Builder can hold the outside supports on the same chart

To record a few outside supports on a genogram, use household groups, institution connections and notes in Genogram Builder. A household group draws the dashed boundary around the people who live together, so that the household at the centre of an ecomap is visible on the genogram. An institution, which can be a school, a hospital, an agency, a religious community, a support group or a care home, is joined to a person with its own line and the years of the connection. A note beside a person records the quality of a support in a sentence.

People outside the family can also be drawn as ordinary people beside the client, which is what the template below does. A coach, a school counsellor, a best friend and a youth pastor stand beside a teenager and her family, joined to her by the same support, pressure and closeness lines that join the relatives, and the household boundary shows who lives with whom. Use a separate ecomap when you need to see the full network and the direction of support.

Marsh household721949–2021Frank DoyleHeart diseaseRetired policeofficer741952–Helen DoyleRetired nurse501976–Kevin MarshAirline pilot481978–Laura MarshAnxietyCorporateattorney451981–Megan DoyleGraphicdesigner461980–Priya ShahVeterinarian351991–Nathan HughesYouth pastor431983–Jamal ReedSchoolcounsellor162010–Sophie MarshAnxietyEating disorderHigh schoolstudent162010–Ava TorresHigh schoolstudent391987–Dana WhitakerSwim coach
Ecomap-style supports for a teenager in therapyThe supports around a teenager in therapy, drawn as a genogram. The coach, the counsellor, the friend and the pastor stand beside the family, and the household has its own boundary.

A genogram with its supports is drawn in a few steps

Begin with the family. Draw the three generations around the client by hand with the Person and Connect tools, or write them down in a few sentences and let the draft place them, then add the emotional lines and the conditions. Mark the household with a group so that the boundary is visible. Then add the outside world. Each institution is joined to the person it serves with its kind and its dates, and each outside person who matters, a friend, a coach, a neighbour, is drawn beside the family with the line that describes the connection.

When the assignment or the case file asks for a classic ecomap with the household in a circle, draw that on paper or in a whiteboard tool from the same information, and keep the genogram for the family itself. The two then agree, because they were drawn from one set of notes, and the genogram carries the key that lets a reader check every line.

  1. Draw the family

    Three generations around the client, by hand or from a few sentences of notes, with the emotional lines and the conditions.

  2. Mark the household

    Group the people who live together so that the dashed boundary shows on the chart.

  3. Add the institutions

    Join each school, clinic, agency, faith community or support group to the person it serves, with its dates.

  4. Add the outside people

    Draw the friend, the coach or the neighbour beside the family and join them with the line that fits.

Drawing a genogram that carries a person's outside supports in Genogram Builder. The template above was drawn this way.

Before you decide

Whether an ecomap needs a genogram first

Not strictly, but the two are usually drawn together, and the genogram is the better place to start. It establishes who is in the household and who the relatives are, and the ecomap then shows what surrounds that household. Drawing both from one set of notes keeps them in agreement.

Who draws ecomaps

Social workers, family nurses, care coordinators and students on those courses draw them most, because their work is about resources and pressures around a household as much as about the family itself. Therapists tend to draw genograms and add the supports that matter to the case.

Whether Genogram Builder draws a classic ecomap

Use Genogram Builder for the family diagram and related institutions. For a classic ecomap, draw the household circle and outside network on paper or in a whiteboard tool using the same notes.

What this page leaves out

It describes the two diagrams as they are commonly drawn and the notation as this site draws it. Ecomap conventions vary between textbooks and agencies, and this page does not prefer one over another.

Sources and methodology

We make Genogram Builder. We used the references below for this comparison. Last checked on 4 November 2026.

Draw the family in the genogram editor. For a separate ecomap, start with the household and map its current supports using the example above.

Draw a genogram