Widely used by family therapists- and by health care professionals in general-the genogram is a graphic way of organising 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-colour 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.

Using famous families as case studies, this book explains how to draw, interpret and apply the genogram, a graphic way of organizing information gathered during a family assessment. It explains how the use of genograms can bring to light a family's history of divorce, suicide, or estrangement, revealing inter-generational patterns that are more than coincidental. Widely used in the training of health and mental health professionals, this work is an introduction to the principles of family systems theory. This edition has been updated and expanded to include developments in genogram use.