ABSTRACT
When we speak of cultural diversity within the United States, it is difficult to differentiate the traditional values, beliefs, and practices of an ethnocultural group from socioeconomic status; minority status; migrant, immigrant or refugee status; and linguistic or acculturative status. Yet regardless of where a particular family fits into this spectrum, no family goes untouched when a member begins to suffer from mental illness. Regardless of racial or ethnic background, social or economic status, or family structure, all human beings are affected when a known person begins to act in ways that are strange, unpredictable, and negatively viewed within their own cultural system. Throughout the world, family members are impacted both by the pain and by the erratic behavior of someone to whom they are tied by kinship bonds of love and obligation.
