The family in consultation--liaison psychiatry.

This article calls attention to an underemphasized aspect of consultation-liaison psychiatry: the importance of the family in the management of illness response. Recent trends in family dynamics have focused primarily on family therapy and less on the critical role family members play in the "coloration," course, and outcome of acute episodes of illness. Case vignettes illustrate examples of intervention by liaison team members in the care of hospitalized medical-surgical patients. The authors suggest that a typology of family response to illness and hospitalization would offer a useful framework for diagnosis, evaluation, and management of the psychosocial aspects of illness. A coordinated approach by liaison team members is important to ensure comprehensive treatment.