Neurosis in the Family

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Abstract
For obvious reasons the epidemiological analysis of mental disorders takes the various recognized nosological entities as its point of departure. It studies the incidence of manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenic reactions, neurosis, senile or epileptic disorders, alcoholism, and suicide or psychological infertility in a given society.1-5 It has accumulated an enormous amount of data concerning their relationships to culture, class, family environment, and changing socioeconomic and political conditions.6,7 All this does not, however, amount to a conceptually systematized body of knowledge regarding the epidemiology of mental illness. It is suggested here that the reason for this state of affairs lies in several tacitly implied but unwarranted presuppositions. First, it is implied that mental illness can be compared with the various more or less distinct nosological entities studied in general medicine. Second, their presumed transmission from person to person is discussed in largely metaphorical

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