Preventive medicine and the family.

Studies have demonstrated the links between the family system and illness, emphasizing the importance of prevention on a family level for physical as well as psychological illness. Brief preventive counselling on routine visits is possible if the physician knows the family well and understands the principles of the family as a system. Periods of high risk when illness and family dysfunction increase in incidence are the normal "crises" of the family life cycle, medical crises of illness, hospitalization and death, and non-medical crises. High-risk families should be identified; secondary prevention is an important role for the family physician who sees family problems at a much earlier stage than the psychiatrist or marital or family therapist.