Schizophrenia and the Family.

In the late 30s, when the reviewer was a member of the psychiatric staff of the Institute for Juvenile Research in Chicago, it was noted that many of the mothers who brought their young children to the clinic for their psychiatric play therapy sessions showed less and less enthusiasm after an initial flurry of eager anticipation and apparent concern. Soon they failed to keep appointment after appointment. It was decided to assign a social worker to see each mother in order to make her feel that she too was getting something more than an opportunity to sit impatiently in the waiting room. The results were almost miraculous. Appointments were kept religiously; but more important, the social worker emerged from each interview filled with what was for us a new kind of information-detailed day to day descriptions of intrafamilial reactions, fresh vivid descriptions of parental attitudes and policies, additional historical revelations,