ABSTRACT
Genograms and other practical tools can assist physicians in communicating with patients and their families and learning about their experiences of illness. Visual tools can assist in making evident what would require many words to capture. One of these visual tools is the genogram – the construction of a family tree. The genogram is customarily used to organize family information. Genograms lend themselves to the creative use of symbols representing task changes and losses for members of the family that signal changes in roles and relationships. When the preceding generation is recorded in the genogram a quick glance at their health and family history provides further information about the family's health beliefs and legends. In the case of the Clark family, the doctor ended the family meeting with a wealth of information to draw upon. So did the family.
