This book has been written by a medical practitioner with long-standing experience in a stable practice population in the Netherlands.

Most of its contents is devoted to detailed family case histories, followed up during tens of years. The medical history of these families is presented in a narrative way and can be read like a medical novel. Out of these case histories the thesis is developed that the family system is to be regarded as an important unit to be reckoned with by doctors, nurses, social workers and other professionals in their daily contact with primary health care. This thesis is tested and confirmed in several broad family surveys, executed in cooperation with psychologists, sociologists, medical students and statisticians. The final chapter is devoted to family medicine as an emerging academic discipline in its own right.

The author is professor in the application of medicine in the family; he has published several contributions in the field of general practice and health care in the leading international medical periodicals.