Support for family caregivers of patients with dementia has conventionally been provided through two main channels: psychiatry and psychology societies and family support programs arranged by dementia family associations across the country in cooperation with administration and social welfare organizations. Psychoeducation provided through either channel is characterized by "sympathy" and "appropriate provision of information" and is often provided to multiple families.
 The author has had a number of opportunities to be involved in provision of support to 2301 families using both approaches over the past 20 years, but experience has shown that clinical effects are not achieved by simply following the procedures provided by these programs. In fact, the psychotherapeutic perspective of each program has had a significant effect. This indicates that psychoeducation is an approach that can be delivered by studying certain aspects without special efforts, but at the same time, represents a necessary form of psychotherapy in the support of family caregivers.
 Some aspects of psychoeducation are intended for multiple families, while other aspects are targeted to single families. The author's role in outpatient care since 1998 has tended to focus on single-family psychoeducation. As with multiple-family psychoeducation, a common understanding of the disease is nurtured within a caregiving family through single-family psychoeducation, which then deepens the understanding of their care receiver suffering from dementia and clarifies challenges in nursing care and response measures required. As a result, family caregivers can provide information on changes they notice during daily nursing on an even ground with medical professionals. With particular focus on single-family psychoeducation, this article reports a reduction in frequency of family caregivers' utterances falling under "giving up the care," improvements in patient BPSD, and successful reduction in the number of medications after the author took over from a primary care doctor to provide psychoeducation for family members of patients with dementia and also discusses the effects of psychoeducation.
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