What is A Genogram?
Go through our different genogram collections below and find out how you can make a genogram on your own. 57+ FREE FAMILY TREE Templates - Download Now Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word (DOC), Microsoft Excel (XLS), Google Docs, Apple (MAC) Pages, Apple (MAC) Numbers.
Draw your printable family tree online. Free and easy to use, no login required. Add photos and share with your family. Import/export GEDCOM files. Academic Genogram Software You are welcome to receive a free 180-day evaluation key if you are a student or a professor. If you are a professor who wishes to use GenoPro as an educational tool. Free Genogram Maker is a lightweight and easy to understand piece of software that was developed to offer you an accessible method of creating your family tree, allowing you to go as far as four. Free Genogram Template. Use the Free Genogram Template (embedded above) if you want to create a genogram that only focuses on one person’s direct lineage. With this template, the end-user will only need to add the name of the parents and the names of the maternal and paternal grandparents.
Wikipedia defines a genogram as a pictorial display of a person's family relationships and medical history. It is also named a McGoldrick–Gerson study, a Lapidus schematic, or a family diagram. Unlike a traditional family tree, a genogram allows the user to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. Namely, a genogram goes deeper into revealing family information among all individuals.
In the genogram example below, the genogram could explain Michael's close friendship with Ann, Paul's hostile against Magan, Max's conflictual relationship with Vivian, Edison, and Sara's harmony.
Why and Who Use Genograms
Therapists
Family therapists use genograms to figure family relations, giving a whole picture of family relationships and patterns. Knowing the family relationships clearly, the therapist gets to analyze the family and help them deal with their current issues.
Couple
Genograms may help a husband and wife understand each other's learned patterns to respond to stressful situations, handle intimacy or conflict, or manage gender and cultural issues. It can contribute to a harmonious relationship.
Medical Professionals
Medical professionals often use genograms to better understand their patients' medical, genetic, and psychosocial history. In this case, they can give a more convincing diagnosis and offer appropriate treatment.
Teachers and Students
In schools and colleges, teachers and students can use genograms to learn the relationships between different historical figures, or systematically study the medical history of a human or creature's family to see how a genetic disease has emerged and developed.
Besides, anyone who is interested in better understanding family patterns and issues may use genograms as an aid.
Genogram Examples
Before starting to create a genogram, here are some professinally-designed genogram examples that can help you get inspired if you haven't drawn such diagrams before.
| Emotional Relationship Genogram | Family Relationship Genogram With Age | Family Relationship Genogram |
| Lung Cancer Medical Genogram | Alzheimer Medical Genogram | Down Syndrome Hereditary Medical Genogram |
| General Family Relationships Genogram | Medical Genogram |
At the same time, in order to ensure that the genogram creation won't cause offenses, please bear the following cautions in mind.
- Be careful with family members' perceptions and sensitive information.
- Understand that there may be variations in stories and beliefs among different family members regarding specific issues. Use your observations and objective judgments if necessary.
- Make use of clip arts, images, and pictures as well as letters.
- If you need to interview someone for his information to create a genogram, treat that person and his/her family information with complete confidentiality.
- Use standard genograms properly, including basic genogram symbols, medical symbols, family, and emotional relationship symbols.
Create Genograms with Genogram Software
Firstly, watch this video to know how to create a medical genogram.
The following instruction is about how to make professional genograms with our Genogram software - EdrawMax.
Step 1: Collect Information of a Family
3 Generation Family Genogram Examples
Collecting information on a family should be the start of your creation as background work. First, decide how many generations you wish to display on your genogram. Next, look at a family that meets your demand generations to gather all the names, birthdates, and fundamental relations. You may interview some family members for family stories to fill in missing information and complicated ties. Keep the work done confidentially!
Step 2: Start Creating a Genogram
There are two methods of creating a genogram: hand-drawing and using easy genogram software.
A digital genogram is much more convenient for storing and future editing. Open EdrawMax, navigate to New →Science and Education → Genogram, then choose a pre-made genogram example or the plus icon to open a blank drawing page.
Step 3: Set the Layout
Set the layout of your genogram and measure the size by using rulers, gridlines, and guidelines. It will be helpful to drag the gridlines to set the page's margins or divide the page into sections for accurate placement of texts and images.
You can go to the Page Layout tab and adjust the page setup and background.
If necessary, you may tick gridlines and rulers options on the View tab to set the margins of the page or divide the page into sections for accurate placement of elements and texts.
Step 4: Add Content
Add Text
- Go to the Home tab and click Text to use the text block tool.
- Input your content in the text block.
- Customize the attributes of your text in the Font pane under the Home tab.
Add Genogram Symbols
Our genogram maker, EdrawMax, offers a rich set of standard vector genogram symbols that depict necessary information, family relationships, emotional relationships, and medical facts of family members.
- Open the symbol library of Genogram from the left of the canvas.
- Drag-and-drop the selected symbol to the canvas.
Step 5 - Export, Share and Print Genograms
When you've finished the genogram, you can save and export it to various formats such as JPG, PDF, MS Office files, SVG, Visio, etc.
Go to the File tab and choose Print or click the Print button on the quick access bar. You can see the print preview in the print setup interface. If you want to see the overall effect on one sheet, click More Print Setup, and choose Fit to 1 Sheet.
Now, I guess you can't wait to create a genogram with EdrawMax. Get a free trial!
EdrawMax: a swiss knife for all your diagramming need
- Effortlessly create over 280 types of diagrams.
- Provide various templates & symbols to match your needs.
- Drag and drop interface and easy to use.
- Customize every detail by using smart and dynamic toolkits.
- Compatible with a variety of file formats, such as MS Office, Visio, PDF, etc.
- Feel free to export, print, and share your diagrams.
Free Genogram Template For Word
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Genogram Program Free Download
| Genograms are amongst the youngest members of the diagramming family, with a starting use in 1985. Although they are used to describe families and blood relatives connections, genograms greatly differ in look and purpose from the family tree diagrams. The main task of genograms is to visualize the relationships between the members within a family on a very deep level, as well as the genetic diseases which may be transferred from/to a family member. Types of genogramsDespite that genograms are not strictly categorized on different types, most of them contain three layers. The first layer describes the basic information related to the people in the family - marriage, divorce, children, etc. The second layer usually contains information on diseases such as heart condition, diabetes, etc. The third layer adds additional clarity of the emotional bonds and relationships, including who was in love with whom, who is obsessed by someone else, who is abusive mentally and/or physically, etc. While in some genograms all layers co-exist, sometimes diagrams are drawn separately for each of the above-mentioned purposes. Let's look at them in further detail. Basic genogramsThe most basic layer of the genogram contains the family members and the way each person is related to the rest. Unlike family trees, however, genograms contain additional information including the way people are related. This is done by specific symbols and connectors, telling the viewer if a child was miscarried, if there was an abortion, if there are twins, if someone is adopted, etc. The connector lines and shapes can also tell who is living and who has passed away, if people are married or simply living together and more. Here are some examples of the shapes and their meanings:All Basic ShapesHealth information genogramsGenograms with health information are often drawn to serve as a starting point for diagnosing a disease or even for predicting a possible illness that a child may inherit genetically. They are often used by psychologists, psychiatrists, and physicians. The predefined symbols of genograms contain basic information whether a member of the family has a physical or mental illness, or even if there is a suspicion of a drug or alcohol abuse. If needed, the creator of the diagram can add additional, custom-made shapes that contain more specific information and describe them in a legend. Common custom shapes are ones, defining heart conditions, diabetes, and others.All Health ShapesRelationship genogramsThe relationships layer of genograms is usually added to give more in-depth information about the relationships between different family members. It can help a therapist learn a lot about a family and see behavioral patterns, their origin and spread amongst the members, as well as predict problems that may occur in the future.All Relationship ShapesExampleTo get a complete idea of a genogram, you can have a look at this example below. |