Psychoanalysis, both as a general psychological theory and in clinical practice, has not been particularly interested in the family. Only a few psychoanalysts have pursued theory-building and/or the clinical practice of psychoanalytic family therapy. One of the early pioneers, Dr Lidz, and his long-term colleague Ruth Lidz, published a paper in 1949 on 'The family environment of schizophrenic patients'.

His interest has never wanted and his book, The Family and Human Adaptation(1963), was a significant and unusual psychoanalytic contribution to