ABSTRACT
Psychiatric illness is not solely an individual illness, because it's very relational. Families often experience that psychiatric illness drives them apart. These problematic effects of the problems lead people to believe that relationships and interactions are dysfunctional before the illness, rather than a consequence of the illness. This chapter describes new ways to understand psychiatry, that is based both on the bio-psycho-social model and social constructionism, where we collaborate with the families. Collaboration requires that we meet families with respect and curiosity in order to incorporate their wisdom into the treatment. Treatment should be something we do together with them. Stories describe a treatment where the families experience being worthy of respect. The stories are written in the externalizing language used by the professional to step into a curious collaborative stance that enables families to step into powerful relationships to psychiatric illnesses, so the family can move closer to living the life they dream about.
