Part 1 Assessing theoretical positions: emotional over involvement - a review and examination of its role in expressed emotions, Dolores E. Kreisman and Richard Blumenthal; societal reaction to mental disorder - a test of theoretical propositions, James R. Greenley and Runar Vilhjalmsson. Part 2 Caregiving for the seriously mentally ill: child care as a neglected dimension of family burden research, Gail Gamache, Richard C. Tessler, and Joanne Nicholson; factors associated with grief and depressive symptoms in caregivers of people with serious mental illness, Elmer L. Struening, Ann Stueve, Phyllis Vine, Dolores E. Kreisman, Bruce G. Link and Daniel B. Herman; dealing with daughters' difficulties - caregiving burden experienced by parents of female offspring with severe mental illness, Susan A. Pickett, Judith A. Cook, and Mardi L. Solomon; ethnic differences in the interpretation of mental illness - perspectives of caregivers, Glen Milstein, Peter J. Guarnaccia, and Elizabeth Midlarsky. Part 3 Resources supporting family members or their ill relatives: the provision of mental health services to families of persons with severe mental illness, Jan Steve Greenberg, James R. Greenley, and Hea Won Kim; family and social network supports for the seriously mentally ill - patient perceptions, Allan V. Horwitz and Susan C. Reinhard; roles and resources - the effects of family structure and employment on women's psychosocial resources and psychological distress, William R. Avison.