And the Cycle Continues: Repeating Patterns in Family Systems
The genogram is a pictorial display of family's relationships and relational patterns, and is used by family therapists to analyze relationships.
Utilizing the genogram within the family systems approach often has significant explanatory powers for why a person finds him or herself stuck within their current relational patterns.
But it can do more than that, too, I believe, if we use it to predict who might be prone to what, based on family history--and that sort of prophetic power can be exceedingly useful.
If you were to take a look, for example, at Monica McGoldrick's and Randy Gerson's book, which I highly recommend, entitled Genograms in Family Assessment.
There (on p.
77) you would find a genogram for the famous playwright Eugene O'Neill's family.
Let me describe it to you here.
The genogram starts with Eugene's grandparents, and we see quickly that Thomas Quinlan, his paternal grandfather, has a half-filled in symbol-the sign of an alcoholic.
Eugene's mother was a morphine addict-although, admittedly, not an alcoholic, but two of her brothers [thus two of Eugene's uncles] were alcoholics, as well.
Eugene himself, as is well-known, battled his demons of drink his whole life.
Thus there is clearly a repeated pattern of alcoholism and drug abuse throughout the O'Neill family.
Although I don't believe you can use a genogram to predict the number of spouses someone will have or whether they will or won't drink, you can use it to predict susceptibility.
It is worthy of note that Eugene himself was not just an alcoholic but also married three times.
Now-the next generation-and here is where a genogram can really earn its keep.
Without looking at the final line in McGoldrick's and Gerson's book, I would know that Eugene's children's susceptibility to alcoholism would be profound.
And sure enough, his eldest son, Eugene, Jr.
, also struggled with drinking, and also--I couldn't make it up--married three times.
[Eugene's other two children had to fight their battles with alcohol, as well.
] Could we step back in time, perhaps to when Kathleen, Eugene's first wife, was expecting Eugene, Jr.
, we would see in a panorama before us: Eugene, Jr.
would be born to an alcoholic father, and into a family with two alcoholic uncles, a paternal grandmother who was a morphine addict, and a paternal great-grandfather who was an alcoholic.
If I were working with such a family, I would want to make interventions as early as possible to help Eugene, Jr.
deal with his stresses in a way that didn't involve alcohol.
Thus genograms in family systems work are not prophetic, of course--just highly predictive.
And we ignore what they are telling us at the peril of our patients.
Utilizing the genogram within the family systems approach often has significant explanatory powers for why a person finds him or herself stuck within their current relational patterns.
But it can do more than that, too, I believe, if we use it to predict who might be prone to what, based on family history--and that sort of prophetic power can be exceedingly useful.
If you were to take a look, for example, at Monica McGoldrick's and Randy Gerson's book, which I highly recommend, entitled Genograms in Family Assessment.
There (on p.
77) you would find a genogram for the famous playwright Eugene O'Neill's family.
Let me describe it to you here.
The genogram starts with Eugene's grandparents, and we see quickly that Thomas Quinlan, his paternal grandfather, has a half-filled in symbol-the sign of an alcoholic.
Eugene's mother was a morphine addict-although, admittedly, not an alcoholic, but two of her brothers [thus two of Eugene's uncles] were alcoholics, as well.
Eugene himself, as is well-known, battled his demons of drink his whole life.
Thus there is clearly a repeated pattern of alcoholism and drug abuse throughout the O'Neill family.
Although I don't believe you can use a genogram to predict the number of spouses someone will have or whether they will or won't drink, you can use it to predict susceptibility.
It is worthy of note that Eugene himself was not just an alcoholic but also married three times.
Now-the next generation-and here is where a genogram can really earn its keep.
Without looking at the final line in McGoldrick's and Gerson's book, I would know that Eugene's children's susceptibility to alcoholism would be profound.
And sure enough, his eldest son, Eugene, Jr.
, also struggled with drinking, and also--I couldn't make it up--married three times.
[Eugene's other two children had to fight their battles with alcohol, as well.
] Could we step back in time, perhaps to when Kathleen, Eugene's first wife, was expecting Eugene, Jr.
, we would see in a panorama before us: Eugene, Jr.
would be born to an alcoholic father, and into a family with two alcoholic uncles, a paternal grandmother who was a morphine addict, and a paternal great-grandfather who was an alcoholic.
If I were working with such a family, I would want to make interventions as early as possible to help Eugene, Jr.
deal with his stresses in a way that didn't involve alcohol.
Thus genograms in family systems work are not prophetic, of course--just highly predictive.
And we ignore what they are telling us at the peril of our patients.
