Genogram Assessment

1. Genogram: Brooks-Bush 1
Brooks-Bush Genogram Assessment
Antar Bush
10/06/15
West Chester University

2. Genogram: Brooks-Bush 2
Establishing the Brooks-Bush genogram from my perspective was a difficult mission for
me emotionally. Illustrating a genogram on my own gave me a greater insight on family
dynamics and pathology. According to McGoldrick (2008) the genogram allowed me to explore
a “tangible, graphic representations of complex family patterns” (pp. 2). By clearly seeing the
structure of family relationships and how each person from my perspective interacted with one
another was astounding. Furthermore, the genogram displayed information in a way that
delivered fast family patterns such as marital status, mental health, and drug/alcohol addiction
(McGoldrick, 2008). After doing my genogram I had a deeper appreciation on how this project
could be a powerful tool in executing clinical assessments.
Being an African American male I found I had unique circumstances when developing
my own genogram. It is not uncommon for African Americans to have missing sections in their
genogram due to circumstances in which people of color were brought to this country (Chavis,
2004). Agreeing, with Annie McCullough Chavis (2004) the author of Genograms and African
American Families, she speaks about how in order for a clinician to effectively use genograms
with African Americans it is imperative to understand cultural and historic dynamics (Chavis,
2004). She explores the historic aspect even deeper by stating “For African American families, it
is important to note that despite being cut off from Africa, most draw from their West African
roots. The African American family, cultural and historical contexts often serves as a close
connection to the past, to the course of social change within the family system, and to the
ecological systems in our society” (pp. 4). In my own experience when speaking to older
relatives about the families past I would constantly hear “I’m not sure” or “I don’t know.” My
maternal grandmother refused to give me any information on her parents testifying that it was

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too painful for her to talk about. Being equipped with this knowledge I was aware I would have
gaps and questions marks in my own genogram.
When I started to do my genogram I did a rough draft with just a bunch of circles,
squares, names, and birth dates. I realized my genogram looked more like a family tree and I
needed to illustrate how “analyzing hereditary patterns and psychological factors can punctuate
relationships” (GenoPro, 1998). However, once I began to add shading to the squares and circles
the genogram began to reveal how the Brooks-Bush family interacts with one another. For the
first time I was able to see there were more out lesbians, gays, and bisexuals in my family than I
originally thought. In addition, I was able to understand how the crack and HIV/AIDS epidemic
hit my family to its core. Lastly, how the Brooks-Bush family made up mostly of women all had
their first child at the mean age of 16.7 years old.
In this genogram assessment of the Brooks-Bush family one will be able to see starting
with both my Grandmothers how family patterns were nurtured throughout the generations. My
grandmothers, and their children (my parents), I was able to see how I was influenced by their
behaviors before I was even born. Then I will examine my sister, and first cousins to see how
they were able to break family patterns or exacerbate the behavior further and pasted them down
to the next generation. Finally, how sociocultural, political, and faith all impacted my family in
an extremely negative manner.
When I first went on this exploration of my family’s genogram I was met with a lot of
resistance from both Grandmothers and mother. They appeared to get anxious about the idea of
someone writing about their family. My relative’s biggest concern was who is going to be this
reading paper? My mother stated “All those things are in the past, and you know we ain’t a
family that talks.” This is exactly what Boyd-Franklin (2006) suggests when doing therapy with

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black families, often times if the therapist is not aware of African American cultural norms the
client could view it as “prying into their business” (pp. 227). I wanted my Grandmother to know
the only person who would read the information would be the professor.
When I completed my genogram, I was able to examine how my families’ horizontal
stressors made it difficult to have good communication, trust, and attachment on both sides.
Beginning with my Grandmothers you will find I am unable to give my Grandfathers name. This
is due to the fact neither of my Grandmothers did not want to talk about their involvement with
their paramours.
My maternal Grandmother stated “All six of my children have different fathers and I do
not remember them all.” Judging by her tone it appeared to demonstrate shame and guilt. Grand
mom Ella stated “I was promiscuous before it became cool.” When I asked Ella how did you
raise six children on her own? She told me “I just work two jobs all my life, and we still dirt
poor.” Ella informed me bring a single black mother in the 1950’s was extremely difficult, not
only did she have to deal with racism but sexism and classism. When referring to the article
Treating the Changing Single Parent the author G.L Greif (1996) says “Single parent families, as
compared with two parent families, are more likely to be living in poverty due to children being
born to never-married and young mothers” (pp. 19). Ella had her first child at the age of 14 and
was asked to leave because it brought shame to her southern family. Due to the family’s
economic status she believes this is the reason her six children had drug and alcohol addictions.
In our interview Ella stated, “I was never home I was always working, maybe that’s why all my
kids got on drugs.”
When speaking with grand mom Vivian (paternal grandmother) I was able to find out she
also had no help in raising her six children as well and refused to talk about my paternal

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Grandfather. Vivian would only say “Your Grandfather would beat the hell of me.” This was a
revelation to me because I never knew my grandmother suffered from domestic violence. This
was a family secret that has never been revealed before this interview. Vivian told me the story
of when she thought my Grandfather was going to kill her and the children. She went on to say
he had lost his job and took out on all his anger on her and the kids. Grand mom Vivian could
no longer be in his house and left in the middle of the night for Philadelphia. When hearing this
story I felt my grandmother had such resiliency when leaving a violent man and moving to a city
where she knew no one.
However, my paternal Grandmother went on to say she began to feel guilty about her three
boys not having a father figured. Vivian said she knew the importance of a good family model.
When I was investigating my Grandmother’s theory on a father’s influence I found this article
highlighting how fathers contribute to the dynamics of a family. Conferring to Michael Lamb
(1997), the influence of the father works in three aspects and they are as follows:
1. Fathers are the breadwinners
2. Fathers work together with the mother by caring, teaching and playing with children.
3. Fathers are able to give the mother emotional support, and as a result affect the children
indirectly. (pp.4)
This article The Role of the Father in Child Development (1997) by Lamb validates my
Grandmother’s anxieties about rising three sons on her own. She only would have one income,
my father and his bothers would not have a male figure to look up to, and my Grandmother
would have to rely on the church and community for support. However, because the situation
was so volatile in Baltimore my grandmother told me she would do it all over again in a
“hallelujah minute.”

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Both of my Grandmothers worried about their children not having a consistent father in
the home. When interviewing my mother it became apparent there was a void of not having a
father and it played a role in their behavior. Starting with my Mother who is has had a long battle
with drug addiction stated to me “My Mother was a great provider, but a horrible mother.” When
I asked her to tell me more about this statement she expressed my Grandmother would just work
and would never ask her children about themselves. My mother felt as if Ella was not there to
nurture any of her children, which as a result suggest a feeling of abandonment in the children.
My Mother shared how all of her sisters looked for validation from men because they
were not receiving it from home. All of my mother’s sisters were pregnant before the age of 17
and had an average of 2 children each. Teenage pregnancy is demonstrated throughout the entire
maternal side of my genogram. There was a study done out of the United Kingdom in 2007 by
Elizabeth Whitehead that showed there is a correlation between teen pregnancy and inter-
generational factors (Whitehead, 2009). The study took a 95 pregnant teenage women and
through an eight interview process established that 65 (68.4 %) of these teenagers had mothers
who were pregnant before the age of 20 (Whitehead, 2009).
However, teenage pregnancy was not the only social dilemmas my maternal family faced.
I could not help but to recognize how the HIV/AIDS and crack cocaine epidemics affected my
family. These epidemics and social issues my family faced are prime examples of vertical
stressors (Bowen, 1976). According to my mother, in the eighties everyone she knew was neither
high off of crack, sold drugs, or had HIV.
My aunt Eve was the first person I knew to have HIV and also suffered from depression.
She had been diagnosed in 1988, and died from AIDS complications 2005. Aunt Eve and both of
her children (John and Lisa) struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. In addition, in 1993 Lisa

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Bush gets a HIV diagnosis while pregnant with her first son Jahil. However, because of the
advancements in medication neither one of Lisa’s two sons’ would become HIV positive. Fast
forward to June 2013 Lisa’s first son Jahil (gay male) who suffers from a severe meth addiction
would become HIV positive at the age of 21.
Robert and Calvin Bush my mother’s brothers both had alcohol addictions and suffered
from depression. These men had violent tendencies towards their paramours and never got
married or had children. The inside family joke was the girls had enough children for the boys
not to have any.
Aunt Robin was the youngest of my maternal grandmother’s children and struggle the
worst with drug addiction, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS. She died in September 2014 from
AIDS complications. No one was ever sure of how long she had HIV because she withheld this
information from the family for years. Aunt Robin had four children (two girls, two boys) all of
them were placed into foster-care. Her oldest daughter Shiesha (my first cousin) found out she
was HIV positive in 2007 when she was pregnant with her third child Ahvi. Four years after the
birth of Ahvi, Shiesha’s oldest daughter Daisha has her first child at 15 years old.
My sister Samantha Bush began to suffer from depression at the age of 13 years old. Her
depression was so severe she tried to commit suicide twice and was hospitalized for mental
illness six times before the age of 17. In my experience, my sister has been crippled by her
depression more than anyone in the family. Samantha was molested by a member of the
Kingdom Hall for Jehovah’s Witnesses when she was 6 years old for two years. She did not
inform anyone until she was 8 years old. What made this traumatic event so evil was when she
informed my Grandmother what happened she was accused of lying. When I spoke to my sister
about the event for the purpose of this paper she stated “I told grandma, and she smacked me.

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She smacked the life out of me at 8 years old. I knew then I did not want to live anymore. That’s
why I tried to kill myself so many times.”
My sister was experiencing what behavioral researchers call an “insecure attachment” to
our Grandmother (primary caretaker). There is evidence that shows that children who experience
unresolved traumatic events, such as sexual abuse are at higher risk for anxiety and depression
(Diamond, 2014)). As a result of my sister’s depression she made suicide attempts because when
she confided in her Grandmother the trauma was repeated.
This complete assessment of the Brook-Bush genogram from my perspective was able to
provide me with knowledge about my own behavior. For the first time I was able to put the all
the pieces that were available to me together. Listening to my Grandmothers and mother share
how their mothers affected them, and how they all believe they would have had a better life if
their parents were more present in their lives. This suggests a feeling of emotional neglect in the
first two generations of women in my genogram. My maternal Grandmother stated she felt
“guilty” for all her children being addicted to alcohol or drugs because like her mother she was
not present in their lives. It is clear this guilt was a projection of my Grandmother’s willingness
to help with her the raising of her grandchildren (Antar and Samantha). Given my Grandparents
background they both struggled with feelings of guilt and abandonment. The negative feeling
my Grandparents had towards themselves and society created dysfunction within their families.
All of these multi-generational transmission traits make up a complex family that continues to
thrive despite their flaws.

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Reference Page
McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R., &Petry, S (2008). Genograms Assessment and Intervention. {3rd
ed.} New York: W.W Norton & Company Chapter 1: Genograms: Mapping family
systems p.2
Boyd-Franklin, N. (2003) Black families in therapy: Understanding the African American
Experience. New York: The Guilford Press. Chapter 11 p.227
McCullough, A.C (2004). The Journal of Family Social Work. Genograms and African
American Families. New York: Vol. 8 Issue 2 p.4
Greif, G.L (1996) Treating the Changing Single Parent Family: A Return to Boundries.
Children Today. EBSCO Publishing, 24, 19
Diamond, G., Diamond, G.,& Levy, S (2014) Attachment-based family therapy for depressed
adolescents. Washington DC: American Psychological Association. Chapter 2 p. 44
Lamb ME Fathers and child development: an introductory overview and guide. Lamb ME
edThe Role of the Father in Child Development New York, NY John Wiley & Sons
Inc1997
Whitehead, E., (2009) Understanding the association between teenage pregnancy and inter-
generational factors: A comparative and analytical study: Elsevier Journal Vol. 25 p.147-
154
Bowen, M. (1976). Theory in the practice of psychotherapy. Family therapy: Theory and
practice, 4.

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