Genograms: Assessment and Intervention - Softcover

"With searching insight and compassion, master clinician McGoldrick and her coauthors have done it again! By providing a crucial framework for understanding family experience in the context of history, and offering helpful questions to ask family members when constructing genograms, McGoldrick explores the power of stories to promote change. All in all, a delightfully wise, elegant, helpful, and practical clinical book." -- Maureen Leahey, RN, PhD, Manager, Calgary Health Region Outpatient Mental Health, Calgary, Alberta "This book continues to be the definitive work in the field. An excellent, comprehensive and beautifully written and illustrated text, the third edition is a must-read for both experienced and novice family therapists as well as all clinicians working with families in mental health and medical care settings. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this superbly written updated text." -- Robert C. Like, MD, MS, Professor and Director, Center for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity, UMDNJ- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School "[A]n almost overwhelming array of riches....I recommend it highly." -- Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic "[A] seminal work....new edition has been expanded to incorporate slightly modified symbols to enhance the usefulness...in clinical and research settings." -- The Family Psychologist "Monica McGoldrick, godmother of genograms, has triumphed again with this third edition of her classic text...Readers accustomed to McGoldrick's authority, insight and compassion will not be disappointed...Genograms are predominantly used by family therapists; however, in this book McGoldrick and colleagues do much to broaden their appeal. General adult psychiatrists will be interest in the practical application of community genograms...There are few scholarly books that entertain, delight and educate in equal measures. This is one of them." -- The British Journal of Psychiatry "[S]eminal....While aimed at psychologists, family therapists, and social workers, this book is not overly scientific and certainly not too technical for the lay reader....Genealogists may find this book valuable on several levels." -- Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly "[H]ighly recommend this book for all who would like to supplement their practice with this valuable therapeutic tool." -- Milton H. Erickson Foundation Newsletter

Now updated and expanded in its third edition, and featuring revised genograms for easier reading, reflecting the growing and widespread use of genograms for clinical intervention, this best-selling text provides a standard method for constructing a genogram, doing a genogram interview, and interpreting the results. Genograms of famous families-Sigmund Freud, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, the Kennedys, Jane Fonda and Ted Turner, Bill Clinton, Princess Diana, the Roosevelts, and Thomas Jefferson, to name a few-bring the text to life, and help to elucidate the principles of family systems theory and systemic interviewing, which form the basis of genogram work. Once these principles have been explained, the authors go on to present the important clinical applications of genograms in both family therapy and family medicine. These applications include the effective assessment of patients' risk for emotional problems such as anxiety or depression; structural patterns among families such as divorce and remarriage; relationship patterns such as enmeshment, conflicts, and cut-offs; recent and chronic life stressors such as pregnancy, acute illness, poverty, and racism; and family life cycle transitions and developmental crises, among other uses. By providing a fascinating view into the richness of family dynamics, McGoldrick and her coauthors provide an invaluable guide to clinicians for accurately charting a family's structure, making it easier to scan for potential problems and take proactive steps to utilize resources when necessary.