Looking for practical family genogram examples to help map your family’s structure, relationships, and health history? Whether you are charting a modern family genogram, exploring an extended family genogram, or creating a family health history genogram, this guide gives you editable templates to get started. Use these examples to uncover generational patterns and build a clearer picture of your family tree.
What Is a Family Genogram?
A family genogram is a graphical representation of a family tree that maps out the relationships, health history, behavioral patterns, and life events of family members. It provides a clear visual of how family dynamics, medical histories, and emotional connections influence each other across generations.
Family Genogram Examples
1. Family Health History Genogram Example
This example focuses on visualizing medical histories passed down through generations. A family health history genogram helps identify recurring illnesses like cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, making it easier for individuals and healthcare professionals to assess genetic risk factors. By clearly mapping inherited conditions, this type of genogram supports proactive care, early diagnosis, and preventive treatment planning.
2. Family Genogram Example
This example is ideal for mapping emotional relationships, uncovering tension, and visualizing complex dynamics within the family unit. It highlights patterns like estrangement, conflict, or strong emotional bonds between members—insights that are especially valuable in therapy, counseling, and family conflict resolution. By understanding these relational patterns, families can improve communication and heal emotional wounds.
3. Intergenerational Trauma Family Genogram Example
This genogram example focuses on tracing emotional and psychological trauma passed down through generations. A genogram for intergenerational trauma helps therapists and counselors visualize recurring patterns of abuse, addiction, or mental health issues within a family system. By identifying these inherited emotional struggles, professionals can uncover root causes and guide families toward healing and long-term behavioral change.
4. Extended Family Genogram Example
This extended family genogram maps the flow of traditions, beliefs, and cultural values across multiple generations. It helps visualize how views on marriage, religion, parenting, and career choices have evolved or stayed consistent within the broader family network. Ideal for those exploring cultural identity or conducting heritage research, this genogram offers insight into the values that shape family behavior over time.
5. Roles and Power Structure Family Genogram Example
Focuses on mapping out roles, responsibilities, and authority structures within a household or family-owned business. It reveals who holds influence, makes decisions, or maintains control in the family system. By visualizing these power dynamics, this genogram helps improve communication, resolve conflicts, and optimize operations, especially in families managing shared assets or enterprises.
6. Modern Family Genogram Example
This modern family genogram example highlights evolving relationship structures by charting marriages, divorces, re-marriages, and co-parenting arrangements across generations. It helps uncover recurring patterns, such as frequent divorces or relational conflicts, that may signal deeper emotional or behavioral dynamics. Ideal for counseling and self-awareness, it supports more informed, intentional relationship choices.
7. Care Planning Family Genogram Example
This is ideal for planning caregiving responsibilities and inheritance decisions across generations. Visualizing family structures, key caregivers, and potential beneficiaries helps families coordinate long-term care for elderly members and make equitable estate planning choices. This approach reduces conflicts and supports more organized, thoughtful decision-making.
Benefits of Creating a Family Genogram
Understanding the value of a genogram goes beyond just visualizing a family tree. Here are the key benefits of using family genogram examples.
1. Identify Health Risks Early - A family health history genogram maps hereditary conditions like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, helping individuals and healthcare providers identify inherited risk patterns for improved prevention and timely intervention.
2. Improve Family Communication - A family genogram highlights emotional ties, conflicts, and recurring behaviors, helping to understand interpersonal dynamics and promote healthier communication in therapy or counseling.
3. Address Intergenerational Trauma - Family genograms that track trauma like addiction, abuse, or neglect across generations help therapists break harmful cycles, making them effective tools for healing and improving mental health.
4. Visualize Cultural Traditions and Values - Cultural family genograms trace the evolution of traditions, values, and beliefs across generations, aiding individuals in exploring heritage and researchers in understanding societal impacts on family behaviors.
5. Clarify Roles and Power Structures - In complex family businesses or blended households, genograms clarify roles and power dynamics, helping navigate relationships and leadership, resolve conflicts, and ensure fair responsibility distribution.
6. Recognize Relationship Patterns - A genogram identifies patterns in marriages, divorces, and estrangements across generations, providing insights that help individuals make healthier relationship decisions.
7. Plan for Family Care and Inheritance - Family genograms aid caregiving and estate planning by mapping roles, enabling informed decisions about elder care and inheritance to prevent conflicts and ensure fairness.
How Creately Helps to Create Family Genograms
Creately offers a comprehensive platform with full support for all types of genograms, whether you’re tracking family medical histories, relationships, roles, or intergenerational patterns.
1. User-Friendly Interface
Creately provides an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface, allowing users to create family genograms without needing advanced technical skills.
2. Pre-Designed Templates
Creately offers a variety of pre-designed genogram templates tailored for family genograms.
3. Customizable and Extensive Genogram Symbol Libraries
Creately provides 100+ customizable genogram symbols to represent:
- Family Members – Individuals across multiple generations, including extended relatives
- Health Conditions – Mark hereditary diseases, mental health issues, and genetic disorders
- Relationship Dynamics – Show strong bonds, conflicts, estrangement, and emotional connections
- Life Events – Track divorces, marriages, adoptions, deaths, and significant milestones.
4. Collaboration Features
Creately enables real-time collaboration, so family members, therapists, or healthcare professionals can work together on the same genogram.
5. Visualizing Complex Data
With Creately, you can represent complex family relationships and histories in a clear and structured way.
6. Cloud-Based Access
Since Creately is cloud-based, your family genogram is easily accessible from anywhere, at any time.
7. Export as and Share
Creately allows you to export your family genogram in various formats like PDF, PNG, or JPEG, making it simple to share with others.
Helpful Resources
Discover 10 genogram examples in therapy to visualize family relationships, emotional patterns, and medical histories.
Explore 10 examples of genograms for fictional characters, showcasing family relationships, psychological traits, and generational patterns.
Explore 10 editable examples of genograms for health history to track genetic conditions, hereditary diseases, and medical patterns across generations.
Explore 9 types of genograms for visualizing family relationships, health, and careers.
FAQ About Family Gengoram Examples
What are some real-world family genogram examples used in therapy?
How can I use a family genogram example to explore my cultural background?
What is the difference between a family genogram and a traditional family tree?
How do I choose the right type of family genogram to create?
Can a family genogram be used in professional settings like therapy or healthcare?
Resources:
Alexander, J.H., Callaghan, J.E.M. and Fellin, L.C. (2018). Genograms in research: participants’ reflections of the genogram process. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 19(1), pp.1–21. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2018.1545066.
Butler, J.F. (2008). The Family Diagram and Genogram: Comparisons and Contrasts. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 36(3), pp.169–180. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01926180701291055.
Puhlman, D., Shigeto, A., Murillo‐Borjas, G.A., Maurya, R.K. and Vincenti, V.B. (2023). Qualitative genogram analysis: A methodology for theorizing family dynamics. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 15(2), pp.276–291. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12496.
