ABSTRACT
A majority of persons with severe mental illness live with their families. As a result, it is the family that is involved in most aspects of care. In India, given the lack of alternate systems of institutional care, the number is even greater. The family plays an important role in the decisions regarding engagement in treatment, supervision of medication, providing day-to-day care and emotional support to the individual. The main goals in working with families is to achieve the best possible outcome for the patient through collaborative treatment and management and to alleviate the suffering of the family members by supporting them in their efforts to aid the recovery of the ill member. Family members that use avoidance, denial and negative distraction techniques as coping strategies experience greater burden, while the use of problem solving, acceptance, religion and social support reduce the burden of care.
