Wk. Mohr et al., Opening caregiver minds: National Alliance for the Mentally Ill's (NAMI) provider education program, ARCH PSY N, 14(5), 2000, pp. 235-243
The belief that poor parenting and dysfunctional families give rise to ment
al illness has been perpetuated by psychodynamic and family systems theorie
s that lack supporting scientific evidence, and interventions based on thes
e theories have failed to produce clinical improvements, Nevertheless the N
ational Alliance for the Mentally ill (NAMI) found that many clinical train
ing programs continue to teach these outdated theories and interventions an
d that the mental health system is often destructive to family systems. Thi
s article describes a new IO-week program that is designed to educate servi
ce providers that will include families in the care of their chronically il
l loved one, The program is based on a competence and adaptation rather tha
n a pathology foundation and it shifts the discourse from causes to effects
of illness. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.