Index person

How to read it

The index person, or IP, is the person at the centre of the genogram, and everyone else is drawn by their relationship to them. MAI Review’s account of McGoldrick and Gerson’s genograms says the index person is usually identified by a double line round their square or circle. Washburn University’s social work guide calls the same mark a figure within a figure and gives it three names: identified patient, identified client and family star. In SAMHSA’s guide to family therapy, a genogram starts from the identified client and their partner, then goes up to parents and siblings and down to the children.

Also searched as: genogram index person, identified client, identified patient, index person genogram, index person symbol.

Index person or proband

The medical pedigree marks this role with an arrow. The National Society of Genetic Counselors’ standard points an arrow with a P at the proband, whom the American Academy of Family Physicians defines as the family member with a condition that raises suspicion that relatives may share it, and an arrow without a P at the consultand. The 1980 genogram legend in The Journal of Family Practice also used an arrow for the identified patient.

Look-alikes

A double outline of the same shape differs from a circle inside a square or a square inside a circle, which the Multicultural Family Institute’s sheet and the 2021 Research in Practice guide use for a transgender person.