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Genogram vs Family Tree vs Ecomap: What's the Difference?
All three diagrams put a person or family at the center and map connections outward, which is why they get confused. Here's what actually separates them.
Genogram vs Family Tree vs Ecomap
Family Tree
Records who descends from whom; names, birth and death dates, biological or legal parentage.
Genogram
Builds on the family tree structure and adds relationship quality, health conditions, and patterns repeating across generations; conflict, cutoff, closeness, addiction, illness.
Genogram Example
Ecomap
Puts a person or household at the center and maps current connections outward; school, work, healthcare providers, community services, with line types showing whether each connection is strong, weak, or stressful.
Using More Than One
Genogram and ecomap are commonly used together at intake; the genogram for family history, the ecomap for the current picture.
See Ecomap and Genogram for a full walkthrough of how practitioners pair them.
A family tree isn't typically part of that same clinical pairing, but it can serve as the structural starting point a genogram is built on top of; the lineage stays, and relationship, health, and behavioral detail get added from there.
FAQ
Is a family tree the same as a genogram?
No. A family tree records lineage only. A genogram uses the same structure but adds relationship quality, health conditions, and multigenerational patterns.
Do social workers need to build all three diagrams?
Not usually. Genogram and ecomap form the standard pairing at intake. A family tree only comes into play when genealogy or legal lineage is specifically relevant to the case.
In what order should they be built?
Genogram first, if family history and relational patterns matter to the case, followed by the ecomap for the current environment. A family tree sits outside that sequence entirely; it's genealogy work, not tied to casework timing.
Can EasyGenogram build all three?
EasyGenogram is built specifically for genograms and it has dedicated symbols, relationship lines, and case detail fields. It's not built for ecomaps or plain genealogy family trees, which use different structures and need their own dedicated tools.
What's the easiest way to tell genograms, family trees and ecomaps apart at a glance?
Look at what's being mapped: pure lineage means family tree, relationship dynamics and health patterns mean genogram, and connections to school, work, or services mean ecomap.