WE ARE LIVING IN A SOCIETY that is rapidly changing, especially with regard to the institution of the family. Families are increasingly subjected to unprecedented stress and tension. This is manifested in high divorce rates and many single-parent families even among Asian communities.  The divorce rate in America has gone from less than 10 percent at the start of the century to about 50 percent in our day. The rate of single parenthood has quadrupled in recent years.  The cumulative impact of all these changes has been an increasing sense of loneliness and alienation felt by people across cultural lines.  In the words of Josh McDowell, America may as well be witnessing a “crisis of relationships.”

We are living in an age when the institution of family is undergoing tremendous change. As the divorce rates are up, and single parent families are becoming more common place, families are becoming increasingly subject to unprecedented stress and tensions. Add to this the impact of sudden calamities or accidents that bring families under duress. What is the impact of all these to our Indian community, particularly our young people and their parents?

In a recent Christian family seminar attended by scores of South Asian Christian parents and children, a parent lamented on her plight of bringing up her children: "As Christian parents, we cannot go by psychology. We have to either train our children right, or forever find ourselves frustrated by arguing with them." While one can very well sympathize with the dilemma faced by this mother what seems less clear is the basis for her apparent distrust of the mental health profession.