Genograms: Assessment and Treatment

by Monica McGoldrick MA MSW PhD, Randy Gerson, Sueli Petry

The latest edition of this definitive book in the field of family therapy—the first update in ten years.

Widely used by family therapists— and by health care professionals in general—the genogram is a graphic way of organizing the mass of information gathered during a family assessment. This visual representation allows the practitioner to find patterns in the family system for more targeted treatment.

Now in its fourth edition, Genograms has been fully updated by renowned therapist Monica McGoldrick. Expanded with four-color images throughout, additional material explaining the use of genograms with siblings and couples, and a thorough updating to essential concepts, this edition provides a fascinating view into the richness of family dynamics.

Informative, comprehensive, and beautifully written and illustrated, this book helps bring to life principles of family system theory and systemic interviewing, as well as walk readers through the basics of constructing a genogram, doing a genogram interview, and interpreting the results.

Genres: Grad School, Textbooks, Psychology, Counselling, Nonfiction

392 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2020

Reviews

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a textbook this is a pretty interesting read. There are lots of life stories with genograms illustrated for people like Steve Jobs, Bill Clinton, Prince Charles and Erik Erickson (to name a few).

[Rachel Shallenberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, it was not a great book. It felt like they were trying to "sell" genograms the whole time and were just super proud of their "product"... And with the entire book being about genograms (supposedly), they hardly explained how to create them, the symbols used, different strategies, etc. (as one would reasonably expect). It was also super unorganized in how it discussed topics. Very all over the place and repetitive. I feel like the helpful pieces could have been combined into a single (non-scholarly) article.

It told a lot of interesting stories, which helped me to gain some perspective. But those stories were not connected to the genograms pictured (i.e. this is how the genogram was formed and why such-and-such is pictured this way), so overall, the point of the book and the goals were just not cohesive. It felt like wasted time and unskilled selling.

Lastly, there were some cringy parts towards the end that seemed overly focused on suicide in families (was it really that common in the early 20th century? The author(s) seemed to think them the most interesting stories... which could be triggering for some). One author even wrote that he or she (it was not specified, I believe) would have told these people that he believed their dad did the best thing he probably could have done given the circumstances (or something like that) BY COMMITTING SUICIDE. And he (or she) thought that would have been helpful? Like, counseling 101, do not put suicide in a positive light. The romantic view the author may have of suicide is disconcerting, and though he seemed disappointed that he did not have a "chance" to tell them that, I personally am relieved that those individuals were spared that. Like, seriously?

Not recommended.

[Beckie Flannagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book explores the way family dysfunction and success can be affected and affected by family dynamics across multiple generations. Useful for therapeutic study but also for the layperson interested in genogram construction and analysis in looking at others outside one’s own family.

[Dena McGoldrick Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

After learning from Monica McGoldrick’s work, I realized genograms can do a lot more than just show who’s in a family—they can reveal patterns, dynamics, and themes over time. I’d like to start making a basic one for every client so I can spot those patterns early and use them to guide my work.

[Neene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for class. I like that you read about the families of some of the psychologists that we follow their theories.

[Yinxue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful not just for charting the diagram, but also in exploring the contextual factors in individual therapy.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved all of the historical figures genograms and how to map out family patterns and dynamics over the generations. I’ll be referring back to this text a lot in my career