Psycho-genealogy, psychology or transgenerational addresses the "invisible emotional ties" that bind us to our ancestors pushing to make our life the embodiment of a myth transgerazionale. Actors on
stage of life, we interpret the roles that allow us to keep alive the emotions and destinies of our ancestors, driven by anything other than "obligations of love" unconscious. Psycho-genealogy
us back to hear a soul in which the ancestors are the spirits that influence our psyche and our behavior. They are the "institutions", the "entities" contained in the events that happen to us. Learning to relate to them is essential to know and become "masters of events", namely the masters of our lives.
What is Genogram? The genogram is a view graphic of family relationships and medical history of a patient. goes beyond the traditional family tree allowing users to view routes hereditary and psychological factors that emphasize relationships. paths can be used to identify repetitive patterns of behavior and to recognize hereditary tendencies. With Psycho-genealogy is clear that the ancestors influence the reactions and behavior of successive generations to them.
Event loss and restructuring of the family system: a new frontier for
operators
Meeting with the treatment system
USE OF genogram One of the tools that allows the operator to understand the operation of the second family ' optical systems, and evaluate connections from an intergenerational point of view, is the use of the genogram (Montagano-Pazzagli, 1989).
is manifested in their graphic representation of the family that is constructed by the social worker, according to the relational information that you provide: establishing meaningful relationships and a strong person, and can question the meaning of these ties.
The continuity of a family, through time, the image is a representation of the tree, which symbolizes the one hand, the link with the past (roots) and the future (sprouts) on the other, the unity of the common core (the trunk) and the multiplicity of the branches arising from them.
From this comes the custom of using the tree as a graphical representation of the structure of a family, considered in its multi-generational. But there is a substantial difference between using the genogram and family tree: the tree has the structure "outside" of the family, the representation of kinship ties that exist between its members, without taking care of what these bonds, in effect, interfere in loving relationships of the various components.
The genogram, however, partly from the account of data, but look to them according to a psycho-social perspective, considering the family as a system based on a set of reports, taking into account not only the institutional roles, but also meanings that each gives to those roles. It can also be defined as the instrument that provides the structure "inside" of the family. The genogram shows the information of the family, in order to provide a quick overview of the complex family dynamics. It
seen from a perspective that is both:
- structural : family structure that appears from the genogram not only reflects the institutional roles of family members, but beyond the concept of belonging through the bonds of blood, may include those people who have played in the life cycle of the family emotional and practical significance, coinciding with a role of "institutional" (eg a friend, can play a role fraternal grandmother, a mother's role, etc.).
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- functional: to function is the sum of the ways in which the system has operated in the course time, the individual events of the life cycle and those crucial events that have led to major changes in the existence of individual members. This feature can be highlighted by the observation of repetition and recurrence of certain behaviors in the course of family history, what Watzlawick (Watzlawick, Beavin, Jackson, 1971) has described as "redundancy." The observation of redundancies can be traced to the rules that the system has established.
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- relational: that is, focusing the attention on the relations of the "here and now, in their present meaning, but also in a historical and evolutionary perspective.
- The information collected, should be read in relational terms: it means primarily found in the data similarities and differences between the generations, in the light of specific connections, and in the presence of similar or different models and relational styles.
The genogram is therefore a tool that is used with two objectives: from the operator to gather information and better understand the particularities of the family, from the user, to allow for reflection and review about your family history .
Much importance is the attention to the roles embodied in the family system: in addition to the master role (son, brother, etc..) And the individual (relative to what a person chooses to interpret) is the relational (Montagano-Pazzagli, 1989) that the family system assigns to the State and depends on the dynamic evolution of relations within the family context specific.
For example, a child can play this role by birth but, in certain circumstances, in the case of temporary or permanent absence of the father, could also take on the role of the father's relationship to the other brothers, or husband to the mother.
What is important to stress is that you do not work on an objective reality of family history, but on the perception that everyone has it. In this direction, it is not uncommon to note that two people occupy the same position within the structure, perceive reality in a manner substantially different, although they belong to the same family, and experiencing the same situation as "objective."
Theoretically, the representation of the genogram include at least three generations, but in practice, you can include the generations that are considered relevant according to the time evolution of the family, according to the problems highlighted, based on assumptions made by the operator (Information Psychology Psychotherapy Psychiatry, 2000).
Another element to consider is the knowledge of their family history from those who "builds" the genogram: it is significantly other than that, for example, information is not indicated because the subject is not aware of them, or because it is not considered as important, or, if it emerges as something "hidden" in the history of that family.
Whether the information, then, that the same representation, depend on a variety of items.
You can certainly say that, preparation of a genogram is a co-construction between the parties present and involved, leading to a final result can not be defined a priori, also influenced by the type of relationship and communication, by setting etc.. The elements of "typical" of the genogram, a level of information provided, we can briefly indicate through: the names, nicknames, positions, the most important dates of birth, death, of any serious illnesses, marriages, divorces, separations and transfers the emotional and the intensity and type of relationship between individuals, employment, socio-economic characteristics of the subjects represented.
synthetic illustrative example shows some utility of the instrument, considering two of these elements: the name and the professions. The
name is the first element of identifying an individual as such, and also reveals membership in a family group. Its importance stems from highly symbolic value purchasing in the family context: it can signify membership of a religion, an ideology, a modern or traditional family model.
The repetition of the same names within the same family, it means morally also inherit the qualities, values, triggering the process of inter-generational transmission.
Another symbolic value of, the name is given to very specific situations: for example, where the concerns the name of a deceased member. "If the child is born after the death of the anus, it is generally thought that is a bit 'of the dead person who returns to the child." (Montag-Pazzagli, 1989, p. 160)
In such situations, it is unclear how the emergence and allocation of the name plays a very special meaning, as well as being accompanied by very specific expectations. The
professions: The repetition of the same profession may indicate continuity within the system, but also an over-enmeshed, as if you were not facing a real choice, but mostly to un'incanalazione "written" by others.
In some cases, the choice not to engage in the same profession of a parent, is rated as a kind of treason, rebellion. In other cases, however, the inability to choose their own future work, affects heavily in the acceptance of a reality determined by others. Or it may happen that the son is regarded as a chance for redemption side of their frustrations or failures, and to be given the task in a certain way, to redeem the family
