Chances are, you already know quite a bit about your family history, especially if you’re close with one or more of your family members. Take a look at the questions you’ve formed and see how many you can answer on your own. Once you’ve exceeded your own knowledge, it’s time to talk to family members. Ask questions about family relationships and significant events. Take good notes.  While the questions you have written down will help you with the outline of what you’re trying to learn, you may also get useful information you didn’t think about when you listen to stories from your family members. Be mindful that these discussions may be difficult for some family members. Be prepared to listen to lots of stories. Stories are some of the best means by which we remember and transfer information––encourage these as they arise by listening attentively and asking open-ended questions that motivate the person to share more information. Sometimes your family won’t be able to remember everything you need to know, or they may not wish to share it with you.  Web searches or family books can be used to cross check what you’ve learned from your family or fill in some gaps. However, you should be sure that this information is accurate if you decide to use it. You have a wealth of information within your own personal history that can help you with a baseline.  Gather information from your own medical records. Take into account what medications you may be using, as you can use this information to find out if any of your family members take the same, or similar medication for a condition. When making a genogram you’ll need to know how everyone in your family is connected. Research the unions between family members, gathering information on marriages, divorces, children, etc.  Take note of who is married, who is divorced, who may be living together outside of marriage. Is anyone widowed? What about separation, or forced separation? Depending on what you’re trying to learn from making a genogram, you may have to ask some deeper, and sometimes uncomfortable questions to determine relationships. You may have to know if anyone in your family had one-night or very short term relationships and how many. Or, if anyone was ever in a forced relationship. Be mindful of who you are talking to and what kinds of questions you are asking as this could be uncomfortable for some. Now that you know how everyone is connected, it’s time to learn what kind of emotional relationships your family members have/had. Uncovering the answers to the emotional questions will be extremely useful when trying to determine any psychological factors in your family.  Are members of a union loving? Do members get along? Maybe some of your family can’t stand each other. As you dig deeper, look for patterns of abuse or neglect. You can go even further and differentiate between physical and emotional components.
اكتب ما تعرفه بالفعل. تحدث لأفراد عائلتك. ابحث في كتب ومستندات العائلة وعلى الإنترنت. ابحث في تاريخك أنت. اعرف علاقات العائلة. اعرف العلاقات العاطفية.