Family fortunes.

The article informs that the community health mental health team where the author worked as a community psychiatric nurse (CPN) a few years ago had a referral from a GP for a woman in her thirties with anxiety and depression. When he went to assess this patient, he discovered that she was the daughter of a previous patient of mine--her mother having had chronic schizophrenia. Nina, the new patient, had been offered a wide range of treatments in the past but had never spoken about growing up with a mother who had schizophrenia. This area offers exciting opportunities for mental health workers. Services must ensure there are more early interventions with young carers, and less need for belated interventions with grown-up survivors of caring who may have developed adult mental health problems as a result. INSET: The Meriden Family Interventions Programme.