Before any deep Family Constellations session, there is a visual step that changes everything: drawing the system. The genogram is the standardized map that family psychology has used for four decades to represent three generations of bonds —and the Hellingerian systemic symbols are the reading layer I apply on top to reveal what the clan does not name.
This page brings together the 15 key elements of the visual language of the systemic genogram, from the basic squares and circles to specific conventions such as the ordinal place rule of the lost child —one of the tools with the greatest immediate clinical impact in my practice—.
All content is available for online reading only. If any of the terms resonate with your story, each card includes a definition, a clinical example, and verifiable references.
Visual library · 106 symbols
McGoldrick canonical convention (Genograms — Assessment and Treatment, 4th ed., W.W. Norton, 2020) plus Hellinger's systemic reading. Each symbol is drawn the same way in session.
People — gender & identity
McGoldrick 4th ed. — universal conventions updated with an inclusive approach (post-2020).
Life, death and pregnancy
Birth year top-left. Death year top-right. Age at death inside the symbol.
Kinship and filiation
The vertical line from the parental couple changes according to the type of filiation. Distinguishing between them is critical.
Legal couple bonds
The line type distinguishes each legal status. Man on the left, woman on the right (classic convention).
Emotional relationships · McGoldrick
Affective layer over the legal genogram. Green = healthy closeness; red = conflict; gray = distance.
Systemic Conventions · Hellinger
Systemic reading layer over the clinical genogram. The invisible becomes visible.
Clinical, medical, and social events
Annotations for addictions, mental illness, migration, and other events that the genogram must record.
Annotations and dates
McGoldrick conventions for writing numbers, letters, and abbreviations inside and around the symbol.
15 keyconcepts
Each card includes a definition, clinical example, verifiable bibliography, and contemporary academic evidence.
01People and genogram structure
Clinical genogram
Standardized McGoldrick diagram mapping at least three generations using universal symbols. Visual foundation of systemic work.
View cardBasic symbols
Square (man), circle (woman), diamond (non-binary). X inside = deceased. Universal conventions spanning four decades.
See cardIndex person (proband)
The subject from whose perspective the genogram is constructed. Double border and oblique arrow that distinguishes them from the rest of the system.
See cardSibling line
Horizontal line from which children hang in birth order. All belong, including the unborn.
See card02 Partner bonds and emotional bonds
Partner lines
Solid (marriage), dashed (cohabitation), one slash (separation), two slashes (divorce). Universal McGoldrick convention.
See cardEmotional relationships
2 lines (close), 3 lines (fusional), dashed (distant), red zigzag (conflict), double cut (severed).
See cardFormer partner belongs
A former partner is drawn complete with a line cut by divorce, but remains. Hellinger: "exes are not erased".
See card03 Systemic reading above the genogram
Excluded in the genogram
Member erased from the family narrative. Drawn in pale gray, outside the grouping, with the annotation EXC. Reincluding them is healing.
See cardSuicide in the genogram
X inside the symbol plus the annotation "S". Hellinger treats it with special systemic weight due to its transgenerational impact.
See cardRepresentative's gaze
The direction in which the representative looks during the constellation. A therapeutic key, not decorative: it reveals the bond or conflict.
View cardInherited burden arrow
Curved or diagonal arrow from an excluded member toward the descendant who carries their fate. Annotation: "carries the fate of X".
View cardMigration symbol
Double wave above or beside the symbol of the person who migrated. McGoldrick formalized it in the 4th edition (2020).
View card04 Special cases and complete map
Abortion in the genogram
McGoldrick: small triangle with a cross. Hellinger: sometimes a darkened circle. The divergence is clinically significant.
View cardOrdinal place of the lost child
A deceased sibling retains their place in the system. If there was an abortion before the first living child, that living child is "the second".
View cardFamily Atlas
Expanded visual map: genogram + systemic readings + emotional data + transgenerational events in a single piece.
View record05 Foundational Hellinger Concepts
Bert Hellinger
German psychotherapist (1925-2019). Founder of Family Constellations. Formulated the Orders of Love.
View recordOrders of Love
Three systemic principles: belonging, generational hierarchy, and the balance between giving and receiving.
View recordSystemic order
Whoever comes before takes precedence over whoever comes after. Inversion produces symptoms.
View recordFamily system
A living set of people bound by blood, affection, or destiny. Hellinger conceives it as a field with its own laws.
View cardExcluded (concept)
A member erased by shame or secrecy. The system seeks to represent them in a later generation.
View cardRepresentative
A person who, in the constellation, embodies a member of the system. Their body and gaze reveal hidden dynamics.
View cardDouble · hidden carrier
An unconscious substitute for an excluded member. The person who carries another's fate without knowing it.
View cardInvisible loyalty
Boszormenyi-Nagy: an unconscious bond that ties a descendant to an ancestor's fate.
View card06 Movements of the soul and reconciliation
Movement of the soul
Inner impulse that arises in the constellation when the field reorganizes itself. It is not forced — it is allowed.
View cardSystemic movement
Action the representative takes in response to what the field calls forth. A physical shift that produces an inner change.
View cardContrary movement
When the soul moves toward what the mind had blocked. The body undoes what words had stopped.
View cardMovement of bowing
Lowering one's head before parents, ancestors, or destiny. A physical gesture of taking in life.
View cardAssent
Saying yes to what is. Accepting one's parents, one's destiny, and one's own story exactly as it unfolded.
View cardDeep Bow
Late Hellinger: accepting even what is painful, unjust, what should never have happened.
View cardHealing Phrase
A brief formula the client repeats before a representative. It re-orders the system.
View card07Transgenerational Patterns and Clan Wounds
Anniversary Syndrome
Schützenberger: illnesses, accidents, or crises that repeat on the same date or at the same age across generations.
View cardFamily Secret
What the family keeps silent but the body remembers. It appears as a symptom in the generation that no longer knows why it carries the burden.
View cardSecret pact
An unconscious agreement among members of the system. It breaks the moment it is named.
View cardFamily shadow
What the clan rejects, denies, or expels. It reappears in whoever dares to look at it, generations later.
View cardSevered lineage
A branch of the tree was disconnected through exclusion, migration, or silence. The descendants feel that something is missing.
View cardDisappeared children
Those who were never named: unmourned miscarriages, unspoken perinatal deaths, children given up for adoption.
View cardAborted children as a collective
When several abortions form their own constellation that weighs upon the firstborn living child.
View cardRepresentative body symptoms
Physical sensations when occupying the place of another family member: heavy head, coldness, chest tightness. The field speaks.
View card08 Specific family roles
Parentified child
The one who cared for his parents as a child. He lost his childhood to emotionally sustain the system.
View cardReplacement child
The one born after a lost child, unknowingly carrying the place of the one who left.
View cardUnacknowledged child
The one the system does not name: children born outside of marriage, conceived through rape, given up for adoption. They belong all the same.
View cardSystemic identification
When a person unconsciously takes on the fate, symptoms, or life of another family member.
View cardSystemic entanglement
Being entangled with an ancestor's fate. Unexplained inherited symptoms that are not personal.
View cardTriangulation
Bowen: three members with cross alliances and conflicts. Reduces anxiety but traps the third party.
View cardPractical resources
Printable genogram template
A4 sheet with spaces for 3 generations, systemic symbols, and a notes section. Perfect for preparing your session.
Complete symbology guide
The exhaustive dossier of clinical and systemic symbols in visual format. Online only, no download.
How to draw your family tree
Step-by-step article with all symbols explained and typical cases. Ideal for starting your own genogram.
Complete systemic glossary
81 terms across 7 categories with verifiable references and contemporary academic evidence.
Do you want to map your own system?
In session, we start from the genogram to identify hidden dynamics and work through the systemic movement your clan needs. 100% online sessions.
Sessions in Spanish only