Abstract

It would be nearly impossible to understand any mental health problem without some appreciation of the family processes that predated or aggravated the disorder. Scientists and clinicians are increasingly recognizing the role of family interaction patterns in the cause, course, and treatment of mental health problems. Toward that end, a great deal of sophisticated and ground breaking research has been conducted on family communication patterns and processes that are associated with mental health problems. The origins of this research and theorizing are far older than the field of communication itself and show just how consequential family communication can be to the mental health of family members. This research also shows how important family processes can be distorted and corrupted by the mental health problems of those in the family system. Perhaps due to the nature of the populations studied in this body of research, most studies on family communication and mental health are conducted by people whose formal employment may be outside of the communication field, but whose methods, constructs, and scholarship fall squarely within family communication research.