ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the mental health problems that are associated with problematic family interactions. In so doing, we address how family interactions contribute to, aggravate, or trigger relapses in mental health problems. Toward that end, current research and theorizing is presented on problems such as depression, loneliness, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, feeding and eating disorders, and alcoholism, from a family interaction perspective. These are but a mere sample of some of the many mental health problems that are linked with troubled family interaction patterns. Collectively, research on family interactions and mental health shows how many of the stressors that culminate in mental health problems have roots in early family interaction patterns. It is also the case that even when mental health problems do not necessarily have connections to family of origin interactions, they can still have a major influence on the nature and tone of family of orientation interactions.
