Introduction to psychogenealogy, an unlimited healing tool to decode the ancestral scripts carried by symptoms

Journal of Psychiatry Reform vol 12, #4, February 24, 2025

Caroline Giroux, MD, FRCPC

Author information:

Professor of Psychiatry, Psychiatrist, University of California, Davis Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Sacramento, California, USA. [email protected]

Each illness, symptom or maladaptive behavior can have different contributing factors. The explanation that seems predominant can be medical (such as viral illnesses or cancers), psychological (addictive behaviors to numb sadness or shame associated with trauma), or social (acting-out as a result of oppression or injustices). However, the body (which includes the mind) might also become the stage of a symptom symbolizing an imbalance once experienced by previous generations but not fully addressed or resolved at the time of its occurrence. Yet, the transgenerational explanation is often omitted in the model examining the biopsychosocial diathesis, even though it might be influencing all those dimensions in the background. One of the reasons for that incomplete perspective is that we are taught to believe that transgenerational trauma is a phenomenon applicable only to Native populations or other groups who have been oppressed through various versions of colonialism, such as the African-American people who are still suffering from the repercussions of the slavery their ancestors experienced. But the transgenerational component is relevant to any culture: it is like an invisible suitcase full of repressed ancestral material, a silent causation that is just waiting to scream and be heard, and should be explored, especially when illnesses or symptoms are unexplained or mysterious. For instance, nightmares in young children who grow up in optimal, loving conditions might be about the unprocessed, unacknowledged trauma of their parents or grandparents. To help these nightmares disappear, one should aim to facilitate the circulation of information and stories within the family about what happened that is being expressed through the thin veil of an asleep mind. In my case, when I was in kindergarten, I was terrified of swimming lessons. I didn’t learn how to swim until age 8, when the patient guidance of my paternal grandmother in a relaxing context during a vacation created optimal conditions for gradual exposure. My own father never wanted to learn how to swim because he almost drowned in a lake at the age of 3. His own childhood traumatic experience might have affected his DNA and also his own attitude towards swimming, which he passed down to me and also my sister. Even if I had not gone directly through his own trauma, I was reacting just the same. I was bearing the symptom to signal a need to address this and release the symptom so that my own children and I would not be affected. 

To notice and name repetitions of dysfunctions throughout generations opens the door to liberation and healing. This approach allows us to put the pieces of the puzzle of one’s life together so to speak. Psychogenealogy is the discipline that connects genealogy with psychology. It uses the genealogical knowledge we have about our family to better understand what is happening in our lives. In her pioneer work on Psychogenealogy, Anne Ancelin Schützenberger wrote that “as mere links in a chain of generations, we may have no choice in having the events and traumas experienced by our ancestors visited upon us in our own lifetime” [1]. 

Psychogenealogy and transgenerational therapy are powerful therapeutic modalities for exploring the ways in which a person’s life may be influenced by their ancestors and healing the dysfunctional scripts (“water is dangerous”) they may unconsciously be repeating. 

This tool can help overcome a dilemma, a feeling of stagnation or a lack of existential fulfillment. It can bring to light a pattern of inner loyalties that prevent a person from reaching their full potential. By identifying and naming those invisible ties, a person can free himself or herself, release the internalized expectations from or “contracts” with ancestors, and continue to evolve.  

One of the core assignments given to the patient who is seeking answers and solutions is the genogram, which is a pictorial display of a person’s family relationships, dates (birth, death, marriage, divorce), and other life events (including migration, trauma and medical history). It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. This unlimited tool provides a visual overview to help identify holes and missing parts of a family tree, or scapegoats and black sheep (the “challengers of loyalties”) and eventually determine a genealogical explanation for occurrences. Instead of putting a person under the microscope of neuropsychological evaluation, we use a “macroscope” in the form of genealogical lens. 

By working on the genogram and by adding as many facts as possible (dates, illnesses or diagnoses, miscarriages, traumas, significant events like incarcerations, suicides, bankruptcies etc), it gives access to a broader vision of the family tree and allows the person to position oneself as bearer of narratives, invisible loyalties, unconscious debts, family secrets [2] or unprocessed ancestral traumas. Because what is ignored, denied or hidden risks being repeated or triggering rebellion [3]. We can come to important conclusions even if there is information that will never be recovered. Acknowledging that there are holes and naming this phenomenon can be freeing too if we transition to an acceptance mode rather than spinning our wheels. We can work with what we have, answer some questions and generate others. 

Examples of instructions to guide patients during psychotherapy during the revelation of the genogram: 

• Look at the names: who chose them and why was each particular name chosen? Were some relatives named after a deceased child or prominent ancestor? 

• Add all trauma you are aware of and that happened to your family 

• Notice transgenerational “transmission” or re-enactments of specific traumatic experiences 

• Add resilience factors your ancestors displayed 

• What questions do you want to ask your relatives (or people who knew them) at this time? 

• Discuss new insights out loud with someone you trust 

To acknowledge and name the hardship ancestors have been through (the broken or tortuous branches) can help clarify or redefine one’s own identity or give meaning to current suffering (like the experience of the black sheep) and heal from it, by achieving a deeper understanding of the felt experience and a level of compassion towards oneself and the ancestors who transmitted it. Hence, a physician, a psychotherapist or any healer becomes a precious guide, a repetition detector, a screener of symptoms that are the metaphor of ancestral trauma, in addition to the interpreter of the “core language map” [4] for anyone who courageously embarks in the endeavor of exploring the transgenerational legacy. Applicable to all cultures, the narrative approach within psychogenealogy or transgenerational psychotherapy constitutes an illuminating tool that allows the patient to slow down, be attuned to the messages carried by the symptom, reclaim the by its healing power, by editing the captions under the trauma snapshot in their life story, break the cycle of traumatization and restore dignity and wholeness. The patient might end the self-blame game as they realize that they are living something bigger than themselves, that the unhealed suffering of their ancestors lived itself through them as an attempt to heal the tree, and sometimes, finding that answer and validation makes the symptom disappear because the message has been fully received and there can be closure through a release of compassion. And the benefits are not only experienced by the person but potentially by their offspring, who won’t have to go through the same pains.

The trauma can stop with us, at any time, if we choose to “open the smelly, damp, heavy and ugly suitcase”. I did so in bits and pieces in my life as I attempted to understand my early fear of swimming. I didn’t initially attribute it to my dad’s direct experience as a 3-yo, but rather to something he did to me when I was little. We were on a fishing trip and I was in the rowboat with him and his work partner. Both men were laughing at my gasps of terror every time the boat was swaying. My recollection is that my dad intentionally tilted the boat repeatedly to terrorize me. I remember yearning for my mother who was in another boat. I carried some shame and anger about this situation for a long time. But eventually, from the repetition of this narrative in my head and my attempt to deconstruct it, I saw the juxtaposition between the two traumatic situations: my dad’s, in the middle of a lake, and my own, also in the middle of a lake (but on a boat). The reason why my dad behaved so cruelly towards me, his daughter, became even more obvious when I realized I was about 3 years old. Like my dad’s age when he almost drowned. As I have seen in many of my patients, something happens to them when their children reach the age they were when they first experience a very traumatic situation, like sexual abuse. They feel anxious, tense, irritable and can’t pinpoint why. Like in their case, my own vulnerable age must have become a trigger for my dad’s. Instead of coping with the subconscious unease by going deeper inside and confronting his own vulnerability, he turned me into a victim, so I could process his own difficult experience for him. I was able to forgive my dad for the first time once I realized it was his attempt to heal that led him to make me experience an overwhelming fear similar to the one he went through. It was the wounded, helpless 3-yo boy in him that was trying to release something. 

In conclusion, every symptom can have a transgenerational component. As Dr Richard Mollica once said, “we are our ancestors”. Playing detective of the genealogy can lead the professional to ask questions that the symptom-answer in the patient was unconsciously waiting to hear to let it go. Mastery of psychogenealogy can help reframe and resolve an infinite number of distressing symptoms. Starting with our own story, such as my process discussed above, is a very profoundly useful practice. And because I had overcome my fear of swimming at age 8, hence breaking my dad’s pattern of fear, I believe it helped my middle son, who was “water-reluctant” compared to his brothers, learn how to swim a few years younger than I was.

The clinician accompanying patients who feel stuck reminds them that if traumas and maladaptive schemas can be passed on, the resilience component that had helped the previous generations survive are also part of that legacy. The Transgenerational Trauma and Resilience Genogram can facilitate comprehensive and culturally relevant assessment, promote intergenerational strengths, and attend to sociopolitical and ecosystemic concerns that may impact trauma and recovery [5]. An example of such a genogram can be found in Goodman’s paper on page 396. 

Psychogenealogy and Transgenerational Therapy are powerful therapeutic modalities for exploring the ways in which a person’s life may be influenced by their ancestors and healing the dysfunctional scripts they may unconsciously be repeating. This explorative process takes place through worthwhile commitment, patience and self-awareness. It is a dedicated labor of love that reaps benefits not only for one’s own life but for generations to come. The spiritual dimension will unfold through this very resilience and through the cultivation of transcendental values such as compassion, acceptance, gratitude and a sense of belonging to a bigger whole: all of life with its very dynamic, ever-evolving tree of humanity. 

REFERENCES :  

1. https://psychogenealogy.org/what-is-psychogenealogy/
2. Reid A. La psychogénéalogie et son histoire. Soins Psychiatr. 2016 May-Jun;(304):20-1. French. doi: 10.1016/j.spsy.2016.03.004. PMID: 27157193.  
3. Lerner H. The dance of anger. Mehta Publishing House; 2017 Nov 1.  
4. Wolynn M. It didn’t start with you: How inherited family trauma shapes who we are and how to end the cycle. Penguin; 2017 Apr 25.
5. Goodman RD. The transgenerational trauma and resilience genogram. Counselling Psychology Quarterly. 2013 Dec 1;26(3-4):386-405.