The genogram can be used in an initial interview, as an organizing conceptual approach to the study of a family system. As a family tree, the genogram is a portrait of a family system over time and space. It's a structural diagram of a family's three-generational relationship system--an overview of emotional problems within the context of the family system. Multigenerational family survey highlights the important issues and relationship patterns as they emerge and repeat over the generations, and defines the problem within the larger context of the emotional system. Major concepts of Bowen's family systems theory and psychotherapy serve to clarify how the genogram can contribute to the organization of facts and characteristics of a family, while dissecting the emotional process in a way that focuses on the problem areas in a family and, thus, can define from the onset where to place the treatment strategies. (Author/PK)