The rehabilitation process for psychiatric patients presupposes a thorough investigation of the prevailing values, treatment modalities, and the interaction between various sub-systems. For instance, a psychiatric patient's career is underlined by three phases or subsystems: the prehospital, the hospital, and the post-hospital phase. Of significance in the prehospital phase is the role of next of kin in the etiology of illness (Laing, 1971; Lidz, 1963), and in the referral of patients to mental health delivery-systems (Clausen et al., 1955). Also, psychiatric delivery-systems are characterized by complex therapeutic processes of immense relevance in the evaluation of post-treatment performance of treated patients (Goffman, 1961).
The study of post-treatment outcomes for treated psychiatric patients inevitably involves the post-hospital phase, during which familial units and significant others may provide or withdraw the necessary support for the mentally ill. Because mental illness carries with it social stigma, rehabilitation may be hindered unless total support, acceptance, and tolerance are manifested in concrete terms among members of patients' families or significant others. The tolerance and support from patients' next of kin tend to improve post-care performance, and in turn reduce the rate of recidivism among the mentally ill (Freeman and Simmons, 1963).
Certainly, the family as a sub-unit constitutes a fabric in the rehabilitation process. Moreover, the family becomes singularly important in an essentially agrarian and non-literate society, where this institution assumes socio-economic, religious, and sometimes medical functions. Despite the modernizing influences of education and religion, the Yoruba family still assumes these functions (Lloyd, 1959; Bascom, 1959; Fadipe, 1970).
