Introduction
Recent trends in the field of psychiatry have pointed to the importance of social determinants of behavior and to the recognition of the role of the family and various community agencies and institutions in the maintenance of mental health and in the treatment of mental illness. At the same time, the dearth of trained psychiatric personnel has forced attention to the problem of the most effective utilization of available workers in the field of mental health. In consequence of both these factors, the Division of Social and Community Psychiatry, of the Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine established in 1961 a Consultation and Diagnostic Service, and planned the sequential development of projects with community agencies whose workers encounter and deal with manifestations of psychopathology in families in the course of their everyday work. The Public Health Nursing Service of the