Examples of Play Genograms
Play Genogram No. 1: Alexis
Biological Father – Facing His
Children from Second Marriage.
Stepfather –
Sexually Abused IP
Father’s New Wife
(No figure for her)
Mother
Half-Siblings
Father’s Second
Marriage
Older Brother
“Always in trouble
like Bart”
Little Brother
Boyfriend
Alexis - Identified Patient
(Smallest Female Figure)
Best Friend
For Play Genogram No. 1 the Identified Patient (whom I [SP] will call Alexis) is a
fourteen-year-old Dominican-American girl who was sexually abused by her stepfather.
The abuse lasted for three years, from the time Alexis was ten years old until she was
thirteen. It finally stopped when she told her school counselor about it. Her stepfather was
arrested; he admitted to the sexual abuse, and he remains incarcerated. Lately, Alexis has
been acting out by staying out late, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, and cutting school.
She has been in therapy for six months. Recently she has refused to discuss the sexual
abuse in therapy, stating that she has already talked about the sexual abuse, it is in the
past, and she does not have any feelings about it anymore.
I drew the nuclear family genogram on a large sheet of paper and asked Alexis to
add anyone she wished to include in her genogram. She decided to add her biological
father’s new family, her best friend, and her boyfriend. I drew a marriage line for her
father’s second marriage and his wife and their children, a girl and a boy. Then I drew a
detached circle, below and to the right of Alexis’s name for her best friend, and a
detached square below and to the left of her name for her boyfriend. Next I asked her to
choose a miniature that best showed her thoughts and feelings about everyone in the
family, including herself.
Note that Alexis placed her biological father looking toward his two younger
children from his second marriage and away from the rest of the family. Alexis chose the
smallest female figure to represent herself, and she chose the “queen” to represent her
mother. She chose an ominous figure with a weapon for her stepfather. These were all
compelling visual representations of her feelings about herself and her parents. However,
I did not voice any of my observations; I simply asked her to tell me about her genogram.
She stated, “I chose this figure for my father because he has darker skin and he is
very handsome.” Then she described all of the figures representing the children, stating
why she chose each one. She said that she chose the pretty Cinderella figure for her best
friend “because she is pretty,” and the “light-skinned guy” for her boyfriend because he is
handsome and he has light skin. She pointed to the small girl and baby miniatures
representing her half-siblings and talked about how much fun she had with them when
she visited her father in the Dominican Republic a year ago. For her older brother Alexis
chose the cartoon figure “Bart” because, as she described it, he is “always in trouble in
high school, he can’t get away with anything.” Interestingly, her father’s second wife was
the only person for whom she did not choose a miniature.
She had not yet talked about the figures she chose for her mother or her
stepfather. I pointed to the figures and asked, “Tell me about these.” This opened up the
conversation and she said, “I chose this ugly guy for my stepfather because he looks
mean and scary.” She went on to say how she hoped he would stay in jail and she worries
that he may get out and come back to her house. She also talked about the figure for her
mother, stating that her mother has complete power over her. In reply to this I said, “Tell
me more about that.” (The goal of the therapeutic dialogue when using the play
genogram is to ask open-ended questions, allowing for the patient to express her thoughts
freely.) Alexis then expressed feelings of fear, anger, and powerlessness. She also talked
about her biological father’s role, saying that if he had been there for her none of “this
would have happened.” Note that the placement of her father’s miniature, looking toward
his younger children from his second marriage and away from her own nuclear family,
was a powerful visual representation of her feelings of abandonment.
The play genogram opened up the possibility for Alexis to talk about her feelings
regarding the sexual abuse. She was able to process her feelings again, even though she
thought she had nothing more to say about it. She also discussed her ambivalence
regarding her mother’s power in various ways. Her mother had been powerless when her
stepfather was abusing her. Now her mother has power because she knows what
happened and she has filed for divorce. Alexis said that she feels sometimes her mother
has too much power over her because she sets limits. On the other hand, she stated that
her mother is using her power for good because she wants the best for her children.
I took a picture of the play genogram for the file. In future sessions I will use the
picture to facilitate more discussions about Alexis’s feelings regarding the sexual abuse
and how it has affected her and her family.