Talking to Families about Mental Illness

A clinician's guide to understanding and responding to the concerns of family members whose loved one suffers from mental illness.

Will he always need medication? How should I explain his illness to the children? What should I say to him to be supportive? How should I behave? A diagnosis of a mental illness can change a person forever—indeed, in some cases it can affect the rest of the life course. It can also have a deep and lasting impact on those close to them. Loving and caring, but often frustrated and at times depressed themselves, family members and caregivers have plenty of questions for the psychiatrists, primary care physicians, and other counselors or therapists who are caring for their mentally ill loved one.

Here, veteran clinician Igor Galynker equips mental health professionals with everything they need to know to speak with family members compassionately and effectively, conveying treatment information and answering their questions, while also...