How to Show Anything in a Genogram
The notation questions real genogram makers ask — half-siblings, adoption, twins, abuse, divorce, households, triangulation — each answered with the standard notation and how to draw it in seconds.
How to Show Half-Siblings in a Genogram
Half-siblings share exactly one parent. Learn the correct genogram notation — connect the child to the shared parent only — and how to draw it in seconds.
Read the guideHow to Show Step-Parents and Step-Siblings in a Genogram
A step-parent connects through marriage, not a biological line. Learn blended-family genogram notation — step, remarriage, and step-sibling structure — with examples.
Read the guideHow to Show Adoption and Foster Care in a Genogram
Adopted children are shown with a dashed or double parent-child line; foster placements with a dashed line. Learn the notation and how to record both birth and adoptive families.
Read the guideHow to Show a Death by Suicide in a Genogram
Deaths are marked with an X through the person’s symbol; cause of death, including suicide, is written beneath with the year. How to record it accurately and sensitively.
Read the guideHow to Show Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Abortion in a Genogram
Miscarriage is a small filled circle; induced abortion a small X; stillbirth a small gendered symbol with an X. Where each attaches and how to date them.
Read the guideHow to Show an Affair in a Genogram
Affairs are drawn as a dashed or specialized partnership line between the two people involved, alongside any existing marriage lines. How to draw them and date them.
Read the guideHow to Show Who Lives Together in a Genogram
A line encircling several people means they share a household. How to draw household boundaries, label them, and handle people living alone or in institutions.
Read the guideHow to Show Triangles (Triangulation) in a Genogram
A triangle is a three-person emotional pattern — two insiders and an outsider, or a child pulled into a couple’s conflict. How to draw triangulation with emotional lines.
Read the guideHow to Draw Emotional Relationship Lines in a Genogram
Close, fused, conflicted, distant, cutoff, caretaker — emotional lines are the layer that makes a genogram more than a family tree. Every line type and how to draw them.
Read the guideHow to Mark the Index Person (Identified Patient) in a Genogram
The index person — whose genogram it is — gets a doubled square or circle. How to mark, highlight, and change the identified patient.
Read the guideHow to Add Pets to a Genogram
Pets are legitimate genogram members — often a family’s emotional glue. How to draw pets, connect them to their people, and include them in households.
Read the guide