"Peace Versus Power in the Family" offers a systematic philosophy of family harmony which can be used successfully by any family. For that reason, we have changed the title(*) to better reflect the contents of the book. The philosophy of "Peace Versus Power in the Family” extends far beyond both the barriers of timeliness and the realm of psychiatry, setting forth techniques to implement that philosophy.
“Peace Versus Power in the Family" is offered in the belief that the family environment remains a powerful factor in the healthy functioning of the mind. The reader will find here a comprehensive system for understanding and controlling the forces at work in the domestic environment. Many people who want domestic harmony lack the means to achieve it. By reading these pages and grasping the essence of Dr. Low's message, "Peace Versus Power in the Family" can be a vital first step in achieving the domestic harmony so often sought and seldom reached.
This book was written under a particular set of conditions by a man of special background. In the early I940’s, commitment to a mental hospital was virtually the only remedy for mental illness; psychological definitions of mental disturbance were less subtle than they are today. Neither the recovering psychiatric patient nor the surrounding family had any guidance for establishing an environment conducive to mental health.
To give the reader an historical perspective, the lectures contained in this book were given by the author between 1938 and 1941, the first and third Sunday of each month, before audiences composed mainly of relatives of patients at the Psychiatric Institute of the University of Illinois Medical School. Each of the lectures was presented in several installments, covering two to four months.
When the Recovery group left the Illinois Research Hospital in 1941 to become an independent lay-organization, lectures to the relatives ceased. Recovery, Inc. asked Dr. Low to publish this valuable material, and in 1943 this was done in the form of a paperback photo-lift edition of limited quantity. Subsequently, Dr. Low's book, "Mental Health Through Will-Training" was published.
Following Dr. Low's death in 1954, Recovery, Inc., continued with the self-help method developed by Dr. Low for this lay-organization. In the years since, its phenomenal growth in size and strength has proved the validity of the method and developed a vast new interest in Dr. Low's other work. In answer to this widespread demand, "Lectures to Relatives of Former Patients” was republished in more permanent form by Mae W. Low in 1966.
The following pages are as the author wrote them, with only minor changes taken from Dr. Low's original notes. [Preface to the 1984 ed]

(*) N. OL Editor: the book was originally titled "Lectures to Relatives of Former Patients", and was included as Vol. 3 of "The Technique of Self-help in Psychiatric Aftercare".