Three Generational Genogram showing Emotional Disorder for Johnson’s and Smith’s Family
Issue of Concern
The genogram above is showing emotional disorder in three-generational families of Johnson and Smith. The genogram is focusing on the emotional relationship of these two families. A genogram is a pictorial/graphical representation of a family generational scheme that shows a detailed data on relationships among individuals (DeMaria, Twist " Weeks, 2017). These two families have emotional issues and specifically anxiety and anger. Three generational families that were considered included the generation of grandparents from both sides of the client's parents, the generation of client’s parents that included uncles and aunties from both sides as well as uncle-in-law and aunt-in-law from both sides and finally the generation of client’s brother, sister and all the cousins. These generational patterns were identified through an interview.
Patterns of Behavior
The family has a unique identity about anxiety and anger. The client has recorded incidences of generalized anxiety disorder and this has largely affected the female members. The condition has been associated with the generational emotional behavior of anxiety. The anxiety levels the families have experienced from the grandparent's generation to the client's generation have been beyond normal. The anxiety standards in the family of Johnson and Smith have led to the causation of problems within the family and outside the family. The other emotional behavior is anger and this has affected mainly the males within the family. Men exhibit hostility that is past the normal standards. Wife beating is a common thing among the client’s uncles as well as the client’s father. The client admitted there is moment his father beat his wife that even led to his arrest. One common trend with among the men is that they all suffer from high blood pressure. The client recorded that he has an uncle who is in rehabilitation fighting depression. He lost all his friends and is on a verge of losing his wife through the divorce.
The client also recorded that he finds himself just being hostile in that he is impatient and has an urge to fight from any slight provocation of his emotions. The client complained that people tend to keep away from him and even the few friends he has are scared of him and that is causing depression. Besides, the client noted that anger has caused problems in his social problems. He has few friends whom he barely spends substantial time together having a chat or does things together. This has also begun interfering with his dating life, where girls are scared of dating him because of his anger as well as his hostility. The client admitted he feels depressed and at one point he began using alcohol which none of his family members have ever used before.
These emotional behavior patterns have negatively affected the image of the family. The client indicated that his uncles are known to be wife-beaters. Moreover, the issue of his uncles and the client’s father suffering blood pressure has been a concern to the family. The family has spent a lot of funds on finding interventions for the high blood pressure condition. Moreover, the client also highlighted on the challenges his aunties were encountering due to the generalized anxiety disorder. Similarly, the intervention strategies and processes used in finding a solution to generalized anxiety disorder have led to use of a lot of funds. In general, the families have experienced financial implications as well as a tainted image due to the hereditary emotional disorders that run within the family.
It is important for psychological professionals to be aware of the intergenerational patterns to assist them in conducting proper diagnosis an intervention of a health condition (Limb et al., 2018). This way the professionals will be able to understand the history condition in the client’s family.
Genogram Assessment Tool
The Genogram was important in understanding the key people and their relationship in the family of the client. Genogram also helped in studying the emotional disorder patterns within those relationships as well as the generational patterns which are affecting the client. Due to the graphical nature of genogram, it is simple to demonstrate issues as well as concerns that may be talked about in a conducive manner (DeMaria, Twist " Weeks, 2017).
Genograms are an imperative clinical tool for most of the counselors, therapist together with other health care practitioners (Press, L. (2018).The tool can also be used for assessment, collecting information on the family relationships as well as exploring themes in counseling sessions (Limb et al., 2018). Therefore, I feel that this tool can be useful to clients in explaining their circumstances and conditions. Moreover, I feel that it can be useful to the client to assist them to view the concerns we as professionals are having for them.
Conclusion
A genogram is a useful tool in tracking intergenerational patterns that affect an individual. Most professionals perceive genogram as a strength based-way of working out issues an individual is facing in his or her life. Genogram gives a history of a client’s family relationship as well as the history of the family’s issues.
References
DeMaria, R., Twist, M. L., " Weeks, G. R. (2017). Focused genograms: Intergenerational assessment of individuals, couples, and families. Routledge.
Limb, G. E., Hodge, D. R., Ward, K., Ferrell, A., " Alboroto, R. (2018). Developing cultural competence with LDS clients: Utilizing spiritual genograms in social work practice. Journal of Religion " Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 37(2), 166-181.
Press, L. (2018). McGoldrick, M.(2016). The genogram casebook: A clinical companion to genograms: Assessment and intervention. New York, NY: WW Norton " Company, 304 pp., $32.00. In The Genogram Casebook, Monica McGoldrick explains how to use the genogram to formu-late hypotheses about presenting problems and to foster the therapeutic process. She assumes that readers of the casebook have a general working knowledge of genogram use in clinical settings and.
