ABSTRACT
The main theme of this chapter is the treatment of very ill families as in-patients at the Cassel Hospital — a psychoanalytically based therapeutic community. Families with acutely psychotic members are rare, but we have had families in which one member has been manic-depressive, and some with schizophrenic parents. One clinical illustration outlines short-term work with a schizophrenic mother and her 10-year-old son. The Cassel Family Unit is sometimes a place where ill families can have a last chance to get help.
