Relationships
Family Role Mapping Questionnaire
A client feels stuck in a specific.
Sometimes a client’s presenting issue is a pervasive feeling of being stuck. Within their family, they find themselves locked into a familiar but limiting character, the peacemaker, the scapegoat, the high-achiever. They articulate a deep frustration, knowing this role no longer fits but feeling powerless to step out of it without disrupting the entire system.
This questionnaire is designed to move their understanding from a vague feeling of being trapped to a specific map of their family structure. It illuminates the unwritten rules and reciprocal expectations that keep everyone in their assigned places. The client gains a new perspective on their position, seeing it not as a personal deficit but as a functional part of a complex dynamic.
Family Role Mapping Questionnaire
Answer the following questions about your primary role within your family. Write your answers in the space provided.
If this role had a job title, what would it be?
List three words that describe the person who holds this job.
What is the main purpose of this role? What problem does it solve for the family?
Describe a specific, recent time you performed this role. What was the situation? What did you do and say?
What specific thoughts and feelings are associated with this role?
Who benefits most when you perform this role? In what way?
What are the unspoken rules for this job? List as many as you can.
What happens if you break one of these rules? Describe an instance.
What actions, words, or feelings are forbidden for the person in this role?
When is the earliest you can remember performing this role?
Who modeled this role for you or taught you how to do it?
If you were fired from this job tomorrow, what would you do with your time and energy instead?
What new job title would you choose for yourself in the family if you could?
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