The student is expected to accurately and neatly create a genogram. Include the following information when pertinent (and only if you are comfortable in sharing the information with me):
- Significant dates (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, etc.)
- Medical history (name the illness, especially if they died)
- Psychiatric history (e.g., DSM-5 categories)
- Alcohol or drug abuse
- Ethnic or cultural background and migration date
- Religion or religious change
- Education
- Occupation, unemployment, disability income (e.g., SSI, or SSDI)
- Behavioral problems (eating disorders, delinquency)
- Trouble with the law (prison, jail, DUI’s)
- Physical or sexual abuse or incest
- Dates when family members left home:
- Current location of family members
- Talents, characterological “gifts,” particular strengths in family members
Write a reflective paper incorporating answers to the following guiding questions:
- What intergenerational patterns do you notice?
- What aspects of your genogram were the most interesting to you?
- What questions came up for you about your family that you do not know, or clearly remember? Are there details about family members of which you are not aware?
- When family members were in despair, who in their family did they go to?
- Have there been family members who have been “exiled” by the family?
- What cultural aspects helped the family continue to thrive/survive?
- Where there any trauma stories that have been told through generational transmission? How have these stories shaped who you are today? Or your choice to follow this career?
- What patterns of communication do you notice when family members were angry, sad, joyful, proud, etc?
- How do these patterns show up for you in your current relationships?
No page limit. Submit hard copy of both genogram and paper at the end of the week.
