Outdated Practitioner Views about Family Culpability and Severe Mental Disorders

Abstract

Current theories and research about the etiology and treatment of psychotic disorders increasingly point to the importance of biological factors. Accompanying this shift in the etiological literature has been an accumulation of evidence indicating the need to move away from treatment modalities that make families of people with psychotic disorders feel culpable in the causation or perpetuation of their relatives' disorders. The current study reports the development of a reliable and valid scale to assess the extent to which practitioners have made this shift. It also reports two surveys, the findings of which imply grounds for concern about what many practitioners do when working with clients with severe and persistent mental illness and their families.

Is Graduate Social Work Education Promoting a Critical Approach to Mental Health Practice?

“…Proponents of these models all claim the models are "supported" by some "evidence-based" literature (i.e., Cohen, 1989Cohen, , 1990Gomory, 1999Gomory, , 2002Johnson 1999b;Kirk & Kutchins, 1992;Kutchins & Kirk, 1997;Rubin, Cardenas, Warren, Pike, & Wambach, 1998;Thyer & Wodarski, 1998;Wakefield, 1992b …”

Perceptions of the Relationship Between Mental Health Professionals and Family Caregivers: Has There Been Any Change?

“…Overall there is little research on the mental health professionals' perceptions of the relationship with families (Bernheim & Switalski, 1988;Riebschleger, 2001;Rubin, Cardenas, Warren, Pike, & Wambach, 1998) but an abundance of studies on the views and experiences of the family with professionals.…”

Permission

“…Rubin et al (1998) measured the extent to which practitioners have made the shift from outdated views about family culpability to the current view of biology as an etiological factor. The authors raise serious doubts about the adequate dissemination of the scientific advances in understanding the etiology of mental illness, and especially in applying these scientific advances to the mentally ill and their families.…”